I am Borg, Part 3
by Kudara
Summary: The new relationship between Seven and B'Elanna intensifies. Seven begins preparing for the task Mulara will request she undertake. The mother-daughter relationship between Seven and Kathryn deepens. (Not likely to be finished)
1. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 1

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 1**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f situations between women.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Summary: Seven goes on her first date with B'Elanna.

* * *

B'Elanna, Seven and Harry spent several hours in the Holodeck studying the Jem'Hadar rifle the next day. After the second day's testing Seven felt confident that she and B'Elanna could build the Jem'Hadar power cell. Harry had concentrated on finding out the alloy that was used for the rifle components and had reported that he was fairly certain he had the material structure figured out. B'Elanna had focused on determining how the weapon produced a coherent tachyon beam. As they were finishing up the second day's worth of testing, B'Elanna felt that she was starting to understand how it was created.

Seven saved the program and the three of them left the Holodeck, Harry headed back to the bridge while Seven and B'Elanna headed towards Engineering. Seven waited until they were alone on the turbolift before asking, "B'Elanna, do you have a dinner preference for this evening?"

"You mean what style of food?" B'Elanna asked trying to clarify what Seven meant.

"Yes," answered Seven. She had looked at the descriptions of the standard restaurant Holodeck programs and quickly realized she had no idea what B'Elanna would prefer to eat. Crewmembers had been expected to make use of the mess hall facilities the entire time she had been aboard Voyager, which meant they were expected to attempt to eat Nelix's cooking. The only thing Seven knew of B'Elanna's food preferences was that the woman was not fond of leola root, or Nelix's idea of spicy.

"I like Italian food, while I was at the Academy I used to go out and eat at an Italian restaurant quite often," said B'Elanna.

Seven immediately thought of one of the holoprograms she had noticed earlier of a restaurant located upon Capri Island off the coast of Italy. It was very highly rated and the description of the restaurant included what were apparently scenic views of the islands rocky coast.

The two of them had reached Engineering and Seven turned to B'Elanna and asked, "With your permission Lt. Torres I would like to perform routine maintenance on the Holodeck replicator." The Holodecks did not normally produce real food, however on those occasions when it was being used for dining purposes there was a replicator located behind the hologrid that produced the food served. All the restaurant programs carefully located the kitchen of the restaurant within the vicinity of the replicator so that the waiter holo-characters appeared to bring the food from the correct location.

B'Elanna smiled, "That sounds like a good idea, I'd hate for there to be anything wrong with that particular replicator today."

Seven smiled back at B'Elanna, well she quirked her lips upward in her personal version of a smile, "That would be unfortunate," she said as she picked up an engineering kit and then walked back out of Engineering.

Seven made her way back to the Holodeck, once there she realized that someone was already running a holoprogram. Seven checked to see who was utilizing the Holodeck and discovered that Samantha and Naomi Wildman were running a Flotter program.

"Seven to Ensign Wildman," Seven decided to ask if she could come into the Holodeck and perform the maintenance while it was in use.

"Ensign Wildman here," came the reply.

"Ensign Wildman, I need to perform maintenance upon the Holodeck replicator. Would you or Naomi Wildman mind if I entered and performed my maintenance while you were utilizing the Holodeck?" Seven asked, being careful to be polite since she was asking for what was termed a favor. Unless it was an emergency repair, Engineering was not supposed to interrupt scheduled Holodeck time.

There was a pause then, "Sure Seven, it won't affect the Flotter program."

"Thank you, Ensign Wildman," Seven said and then closed the communications channel. Stepping into the Holodeck she opened her tricorder and used it to locate where in the holoprogram the replicator was hidden. She could not see Samantha or Naomi Wildman and was pleased that she was not interrupting their time together.

Using her optical implant and tricorder Seven carefully checked all the systems of the replicator thoroughly ensuring that it would produce faithful replications of the dishes that were to be served this evening. As she was finishing up Samantha Wildman and Naomi Wildman appeared.

Samantha Wildman gave Seven a smile and curious look, "Usually that replicator gets checked out of schedule when someone from Engineering is planning on using the Holodeck to take someone out for a dinner date."

"Yes," replied Seven interested in the trivia which indicated that she was performing the pre-date protocol correctly, though this had not been included as one of the steps in her studies. A tactical review of the possible failures of the evening planned had brought this up as an equipment check that was needed.

Samantha Wildman shifted, Naomi who had been staring back and forth at the two women grinned at Seven and asked, "Who are you going out on a date with Seven? Lt. Torres?"

Samantha Wildman looked at her daughter with and outraged mother look and then was thoroughly sidetracked from rebuking her daughter by Seven's reply.

"You are correct Naomi Wildman, Lt. Torres and I are going to dinner together this evening. It will be our first date," replied Seven.

"What are you going to wear?" asked Naomi curiously. Samantha was embarrassed at her daughter's questions but she was so thoroughly curious by now that she didn't attempt to stop her daughter from grilling the ex-Borg.

"I have not decided," admitted Seven, "I believe I should consult with Lt. Torres before making a decision."

Naomi nodded and Samantha finally found her voice, "That's probably a good idea Seven, nothing is more embarrassing than showing up for a date and being either under dressed or over dressed."

Seven looked at Samantha confused as to the woman's meaning. Literally the words did not make much sense, as they implied that one would either be wearing too few or too many clothes.

Samantha, seeing Seven's confusion tried again, "You don't want to be wearing casual clothing and Lt. Torres show up wearing a formal dress or vice versa."

Seven nodded, that was the situation that the Andorian dating guide had described as a social gaffe that should be avoided. "I will consult with Lt. Torres as soon as our duty shift is over," she assured them. "I must return to Engineering..." Seven hesitated searching for the correct phrase, "Please enjoy the rest of your day."

Samantha Wildman stared for a second and then stammered out, "You too Seven, I hope your date goes well."

Naomi Wildman grinned at Seven, "Lt. Torres is pretty."

Seven raised a brow at this observation then nodded, "I concur, Naomi Wildman."

Samantha now feeling a vast sense of unreality broke into the conversation, "Well our Holodeck time is up." Samantha had taken a long time to get used to the fact that the ex-drone was no threat to her daughter. She had done her best to keep Naomi from finding out the grim fate of her friend and had been overjoyed to find out that Seven was still alive. However, this new Seven had her off balance, it wasn't that she didn't like the new polite and more emotional Seven, it was just... odd.

Seven left the Holodeck and returned to Engineering. Lt. Torres was absorbed with running some dilithium matrix diagnostics and Seven did not want to disturb her with what was after all personal business. Instead Seven waited and monitored the warp displays, when the power fluctuation that had been present stabilized Seven knew that B'Elanna had been successful.

She turned and looked at the Chief Engineer giving B'Elanna a congratulatory smile and receiving a warm smile in return. The smile caused Seven to reflect on how much she enjoyed the current state of affairs between her and B'Elanna much more than their previous adversarial one.

Seven briefly brought up images in her minds eye, of B'Elanna when Seven had been particularly successful in irritating the woman, and realized that she still was entranced by how the engineer looked when she was angry. The way her skin colored more warmly from being flushed, the way she seemed to vibrate with energy, and the passionate look in her eyes. Now if there was only a way to obtain that look without the unpleasant argument, Seven thought.

Unbidden her memory brought up the image of Jorunn right after their last kiss, Seven was confused as to what one had to do with the other before she noted how Jorunn's face had changed because of her arousal. Suddenly she realized why her memory had presented this image to her. Seven paused and looked across Engineering at B'Elanna and tried to imagine how she would look in a state of arousal.

The picture that rose in her mind was very like the one's she remembered from their arguments, but instead of anger there was an intent look of desire. Seven's breath caught for a moment at the image, and she felt an odd tingle race through her body that seemed to end concentrated in her groin and fingertips. B'Elanna looked up at that moment and their gazes met, for both of them the rest of Engineering seemed to fade away for a moment until Lt. Carey actually coughed trying to get Lt. Torres attention. The moment broken both women jerked their gaze away from the other.

Seven looked at the displays in front of her, not really paying attention to their meaning, but trying to regain control of what suddenly seemed to be a runaway endocrine system. She seemed to be in a state of hyper awareness, her body taunt, her breathing increased, eyes dilated. Seven wondered if this was how B'Elanna felt when she was looking at her and growling. Seven felt the sensations drain away and knew that her nanoprobes had taken care of them, feeling calmer she wondered how B'Elanna dealt with the emotions, they had seemed so overwhelming.

Thankfully Alpha shift was over relatively quickly and Seven and B'Elanna headed out of Engineering toward B'Elanna's quarters agreeing that a snack of some type was in order since they would be eating late. Once they had reached her quarters B'Elanna replicated a selection of fruit and cheese. It had become a favorite of Seven's since the first time B'Elanna had prepared a plate for them during one of their late night discussions over the chemical reactor.

"B'Elanna," said Seven somewhat hesitantly, "I wish to discuss the appropriate clothing for this evening. I understand it is important that we agree upon the appropriate..." Seven frowned searching for the correct words.

"Casual or formal clothing, you mean," said B'Elanna.

Relieved Seven nodded, and then looked expectantly at B'Elanna.

"So... which would you prefer Seven, you're the one who gets to decide since you invited me." B'Elanna smiled at Seven's confusion.

Seven stared at B'Elanna in uncertainty for a moment, "How does one decide," she finally asked.

"Well," said B'Elanna considering, "Usually the type of restaurant you are going to decides the level of clothing appropriate. Usually the holoprograms are marked as formal if formal evening wear is suggested," B'Elanna said helpfully.

Seven straightened reassured, "No dress requirements were mentioned for the holoprogram I have chosen, therefore the dress for this evening will be casual." With the unexpectedly difficult task of addressing clothing issues completed, Seven began to worry that B'Elanna might not like her choice of holoprograms. Seven of course knew that B'Elanna liked Italian food but further study into that particular ethnic food revealed distinctive differences in regional food preparation.

"Seven," B'Elanna said, "I'm sure I'll like wherever you chose for dinner."

Seven jerked her gaze away from her abstract perusal of the floor to B'Elanna's face, wondering how the other woman had guessed her thoughts.

B'Elanna smiled, "I'll be worrying about the same thing the first time I take you out to eat Seven," she explained.

Seven smiled shyly back and then noticed the time, "B'Elanna, I must go to my own quarters to prepare for our date. I will meet you here at 1945 hours if that is acceptable."

"That is acceptable," B'Elanna agreed still smiling.

Seven headed to her own quarters to shower and dress, uncharacteristically she hesitated for a long moment over the various color choices she had, finally settling on a Mularan outfit of a white shirt with blue pants and wraps. She left her hair down and loosely gathered at the nape of her neck, knowing that B'Elanna preferred her hair this way.

Heading back to B'Elanna's quarters she waited somewhat patiently for B'Elanna to respond to the admittance chime. When the doors to B'Elanna's quarters opened Seven was surprised to see B'Elanna wearing a white sleeveless shirt and black pants with sandals.

Seven allowed her eyes to roam for a moment over the torso of the compact woman, admiring the contrast between the whiteness of the shirt and the caramel skin tone, the discrete but defined musculature revealed by the sleeveless top. Suddenly Seven was uncertain of her own clothing choice which was what she usually wore after working hours.

"You look good in those colors, Seven," said B'Elanna correctly interpreting Seven's glance from her own clothing to B'Elanna's.

Reassured, Seven replied "Thank you B'Elanna, you look..." Seven paused for a moment wondering what adjective would be appropriate, "very nice as well," she finished. Touchable was more of a correct adjective for what Seven thought but she was fairly certain it was not the polite comment to actually make.

The two women paused for a moment awkwardly then Seven said, "It is almost 2000 hours, we should proceed to the Holodeck." B'Elanna nodded and the two women made their way to the Holodeck which was already empty. "Computer run program Capri Island," instructed Seven.

B'Elanna looked at her curiously not familiar with the islands name as they entered the Holodeck. They stepped directly into the restaurant and were greeted by a gentleman wearing an old fashioned black suit and white shirt that lead them through the restaurant to the open air seating area. "Welcome to Le Grottelle," he said, "your waiter will be with you shortly. In the meantime please enjoy the view of the Arco Naturale."

B'Elanna and Seven looked out over the ledge of the seating area down a steep cliff face to where the man was pointing. Towering in the air no less than 100 meters away, was a natural rock arch that dominated the view of the cliff and ocean. The cliff face was rocky and densely covered with short pine trees and vegetation. The grey limestone rocks and dark green of the pine made for a beautiful view.

The open eating area was covered with a wooden awning and vines with deep purple flowers ran up the poles to the awning and along its top. Seven was pleasantly surprised with the view and enjoyed the feel of the breeze and the height that allowed her to look out far over the ocean. Looking at B'Elanna's openly interested face as she leaned over the railing to examine the cliff, arch and ocean; Seven knew she had made the correct choice for their first date.

"Where are we?" asked B'Elanna curiously.

"Capri Island," answered Seven, "Approximately 5 kilometers off the coast of Italy in the Gulf of Naples. The island is about six kilometers long and three kilometers wide, and has a total coastline of seventeen kilometers." Seven recited from her studies of the island.

Just then their waiter appeared with menu's which he placed before them, "Ladies may I get you any drinks before you order?" he asked politely.

Seven who had researched non-synthol beverages in preparation replied, "San Pellegrino water."

B'Elanna looked at her curiously before ordering a glass of white wine. "What's Pellegrino water?"

"Sparkling mineral water originally produced in Italy," explained Seven as she opened her menu to examine the dinner choices. Seven had already decided to try some of the local cuisine after reading about the combination of Greek and Italian influences upon it. Seven quickly decided to have the Insalada Caprese, a salad of mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil, followed by an appetizer of stuffed calamari and a dinner of Ravioli alla Caprese. The ravioli sounded quite interesting being stuffed with a filling of caciotta cheese, parmesan and marjoram and served in a tomato and basil sauce.

When the waiter came back Seven quickly gave her order and then waited to see what B'Elanna would choose. To Seven's surprise B'Elanna gave her a considering look and then said, "I'll have the same please," to the waiter. When the waiter left B'Elanna turned to Seven, "I was thinking of having the wild quail but the ravioli sounded more interesting."

"What made you choose this program?" B'Elanna asked Seven curiously.

"I knew you liked the ocean and Italian food B'Elanna, combining the two seemed a logical choice. It is more... beautiful than I thought it would be," admitted Seven.

"Yes it is beautiful," agreed B'Elanna. She wondered how Seven had known she loved the ocean and then remembered the extensive study Seven had done of B'Elanna's relationship with Tom. Undoubtedly that was when Seven had noticed B'Elanna's fondness of water. "I usually like sandy beaches, but I think I may have to expand my choices due to this view."

The waiter appeared once again with their salads and placed them before the two women. After inquiring whether there was anything else they needed he went to check on one of the holographic couples at the restaurant. Seven examined the salad in front of her curiously and then picked up what she knew from her studies was the salad fork and began eating.

The salad was an interesting mixture of flavors, the creamy mild salty taste of the mozzarella, with the clean sharp taste of the basil and tomato and the mild olive flavor of the oil. Thankfully the serving was small or the two women would have found themselves stuffed from the filling salad alone.

As they ate the salad they discussed the stone arch and Seven described how it had once been the opening of a large grotto. The interior of the grotto had worn away over time and fallen into the ocean, leaving only the rocky opening remaining. Once Seven had described the formation of the arch it was not difficult for B'Elanna to form in her mind the original grotto, obviously far in the past the edge of the cliff face had extended several meters further.

A few minutes after the two of them had finished off their salads the waiter brought out the stuffed calamari. B'Elanna, to get a conversational ball rolling that wasn't about engineering or astrometrics, asked Seven about the history of the island. Seven was more than willing to comply and began telling B'Elanna about the excavated villa's that Emperor Tiberius had built on the island in the Terran year 30 A.D. Capri had remained under Roman control until 1200 A.D. when it changed hands to the Normans, then to the Spanish, and finally to the French until around 1800 A.D. when it again came under Italian control.

Their main course had been delivered by the waiter by this time and Seven paused while they both turned their attention to consuming the pasta dish. The combination of cheeses, herbs and tomatoes was quite good and both women settled back from their dinners feeling rather full. When the waiter came back over and took their dinner plates and left the dessert menu with them.

Seven, who had already researched the desert choices, knew that she wanted to try the Torta Caprese, a flourless torte made of chocolate, ground almonds, butter and sugar. As soon as the waiter came back she confidently gave her order, "I will have the Torta Caprese and a cappuccino, please."

B'Elanna smiled at Seven amused, she had heard that the Captain had made another coffee convert and obviously it was true. "Rakatajino and Torta Caprese," B'Elanna ordered, preferring the Klingon version of cappuccino with its spicier and nuttier taste.

While they waited for their deserts Seven continued relating the history of the island. Describing how it had survived through the Eugenics Wars and World War III only because of its low strategic value. Colonel Green had actually visited the island on vacation and had from all accounts enjoyed his time there.

When the waiter reappeared with their drinks and deserts both women stopped talking and examined the slender slices of torte that were placed in front of them. The apparent density of the torte spoke to it's richness before either of them tasted it. Seven picked up her fork and separated a small piece and tasted it, the richness of bittersweet chocolate and almonds filled her mouth eliciting an appreciative noise from her.

B'Elanna chuckled softly at Seven's obvious enjoyment of the torte and took up her fork to start eating the desert herself. After the first bite she understood the look on Seven's face. "Very rich," she commented to Seven enjoying the strong flavors.

A nod was all the reply she got for the moment as Seven was experiencing her first taste of the cappuccino. B'Elanna mused that the evening was already more of a success than Seven's other two dates. She still felt a twinge of sorrow for Seven, but she also felt a bit of victory that she was the one who was sharing this experience with Seven.

Seven had also been a good conversationalist... granted a discussion of the history of the island hadn't been what she had expected at the beginning of the evening. It was something she associated with Chakotay, but not a side of Seven that she had expected. The ex-drone had apparently found the history of the island very interesting and had mentioned that she would like to come back to look at the Roman excavations and the gardens that had been built in the early 1900's.

Seven glanced at B'Elanna examining the proud profile of a face that was turned to look out over the restless ocean. A pleasing steady breeze was blowing inland and pushing B'Elanna's hair back from her face. Seven wasn't sure she had been pleasant company during the evening, the Andorian study had been quite sure that she should have let B'Elanna talk about herself. Instead Seven had spent the entire evening discussing the general history of the island. The only thing that gave her any consolation was that B'Elanna had asked about the history of the island first and she hadn't shown any signs that she found the conversation boring.

They had finished their deserts and beverages and were enjoying sitting on the open deck in the sunshine when Seven realized they only had thirty minutes of Holodeck time remaining. "B'Elanna," she said hesitantly, "There is one other place on the island I would like to visit before our time expires."

B'Elanna looked at Seven curiously, "Sure Seven, can we walk there from here?"

"I believe it would be more expedient for us to change locations in the program, it would take us too long to walk there from here," said Seven as she stood and waited for B'Elanna to stand as well. "Computer change location to La Grotto Azzurra." Suddenly the landscape changed, now they were standing on a rocky ledge right next to the ocean. Metal railing separated them from the water and a set of steps lead down to a boat that was being held steady for them by a waiting boatman.

"Ladies, I was not certain you would be arriving this evening, if you will step down into the boat I will row us into the grotto. Remember you will need to bend down as we enter the grotto to avoid injury, the opening is very low," the boatman said. His smile was bright against his seamed and tanned face.

Seven nodded back to him, then turned to B'Elanna and indicated that she should go first. Bemusedly B'Elanna did so and as she got into the boat she looked up at the sheer cliff face that hung above them. There was no beach here, the ocean waves dashed themselves directly against the stony cliff. Fifteen meters away she could see the low narrow grotto opening that was their destination. Seven stepped into the boat behind her and the boatman started rowing them toward the opening.

The boatman was correct about them needing to bend down reflected B'Elanna as they scraped under the rocky opening and into a stunning cavern. As the boatman kept rowing B'Elanna glanced around at the low stone cavern they had entered and gasped. The cavern itself was fairly unremarkable; limestone walls enclosed a long narrow area of sixty meters by twenty-five meters. What gave the grotto its name was the intense blue color of the water.

Seven examined the color intensity of the water with satisfaction; she knew that the blue color was the result of an underwater opening that refracted the sunlight into the grotto. Knowing the explanation behind the intense color however did not dim her enjoyment of the experience. As they reached the midpoint of the cavern Seven said, "Computer pause boat at this location and delete holo-character."

The boat obediently paused and the boatman disappeared leaving them alone in the middle of the cavern, the under lit blueness of the water playing along the cavern walls and the face of the woman across from her. B'Elanna was suddenly struck by how the reflected water color made Seven's eyes look almost the same color as the water. Gingerly B'Elanna crouched, "Computer hold boat steady," she moved toward the prow of the boat where Seven was seated looking at her curiously.

"It may be a bit premature," B'Elanna said as she sat on the slat directly opposite Seven, "but I believe this is the perfect location for us to have our first kiss if you don't mind."

Seven felt suddenly short of breath, "I believe that is the expected ending to the first date. This location is ...," Seven initially wanted to say acceptable, but in truth this location was more than acceptable. "This location would be perfect for our first kiss."

B'Elanna grinned, "Perfect huh, I just hope the kiss can live up to its location then." B'Elanna had been imagining this moment for the entire week, and she wanted it to be perfect. Examining the situation she could see only one satisfactory way to get close enough to Seven to kiss her the way she wanted, she just hoped that it wouldn't come across as too aggressive. Slowly she stood in the now rock still boat and straddled Seven's knees looking down at her. To her surprise Seven reached up and placed her hands on her waist and pulled her down so that she was sitting on Seven's knees facing her.

'Well I guess I wasn't being too aggressive' B'Elanna thought as she rested her hands on Seven's shoulders. B'Elanna examined Seven's face noting the dilated eyes and increased respiration. With a grin she stated, "Seven your eyes are dilated and your respiration has increased."

"As have yours," Seven responded.

"I guess that means we are both aroused then," B'Elanna said right before she leaned in to lightly brush her lips across Seven's. As Seven's hands at her waist pulled her in closer she leaned back, preventing Seven from deepening the kiss. What she thought was a frustrated sigh caused B'Elanna to grin mischievously before she leaned in to gently brush her lips against Seven's again, an answering light nip across her bottom lip both surprised and excited B'Elanna.

Seven shifted one of her hands from B'Elanna's waist and moved it up her back, pressing B'Elanna forward and causing her to slide toward Seven until they were firmly resting against one another. A light nip from B'Elanna in response to her action, increased the feeling of arousal Seven was experiencing. Remembering her lesson's from Jorunn Seven gently raked her teeth over B'Elanna's lower lip then gently soothed it with her tongue.

The resulting groan from B'Elanna was all that she could have wished, letting Seven know that she was performing correctly. When B'Elanna repeated the same move Seven found that rational thought was becoming increasingly difficult. Seven felt B'Elanna's hands move from her shoulders to rest with one behind her neck and one gently cupping the back of her head. When B'Elanna's tongue slipped between her lips and started exploring her mouth all thought fled and she reacted instinctively meeting B'Elanna's tongue with her own.

Neither of them particularly realized that the five minute warning had passed unnoticed, they did however notice when the boat disappeared from beneath them leaving them sitting on one another's laps on the floor of the Holodeck. "Ladies, I believe your time has expired," said the voice of the Captain.

B'Elanna felt as thought someone had suddenly dumped ice water over her, as she jerked her head around to look at what was essentially the mother of the woman she had just been kissing. Stumbling to her feet she extended her hand to help a confused and slightly disgruntled looking Seven to her feet.

"Uhm... sorry Captain, I didn't hear the five minute warning," babbled B'Elanna, noticing that the Captain was dressed in her Velocity outfit and that Chakotay was also present. He was standing several feet away from the Captain with his hand covering what was undoubtedly a wide grin.

"I noticed," said Janeway dryly. "I gather your dinner went well?" she asked.

"Yes, Captain," responded Seven, somewhat confused as to why Kathryn was asking how their evening had went. Searching her memory for a reason she realized that Kathryn was properly fulfilling her role as 'mother' as described in the Andorian study. It was the duty of the mother to frustrate and block all efforts at intimacy until a sufficient emotional bond had formed between the daughter and her suitor to ensure that they would have meaningful instead of casual sex. Apparently there was an important distinction between the two forms of intimacy, and mothers were in fact supposed to ensure their daughters did not experience the lesser form.

Satisfied that she knew the answer Seven realized that Kathryn's attention was on B'Elanna not on her; obviously B'Elanna was currently in the 'suitor' role as far as Kathryn was concerned. B'Elanna must have realized this as well for in the next moment she said, "The dinner was excellent Captain, we spent most of the evening discussing the history of Capri Island. I was just about to escort Seven to her quarters if you have no objections."

"No of course not, I have no objections to you escorting Seven to the door of her quarters," said Janeway with an emphasis on the word door.

"Yes, ma'am," replied B'Elanna nervously. "I'll escort her there now Captain unless you have anything else?"

Finally Janeway turned to Seven, "Did you have an enjoyable evening Annika?"

Seven graced her with one of her rare full smiles, "Yes I did Kathryn, and B'Elanna and I will not engage in casual sex this evening. Your interruption had its intended effect; I believe it was the equivalent of 'turning the front light on'?"

"I've got to read that Andorian study, apparently it was quite comprehensive," said Kathryn chuckling over Annika's bluntness. "And yes that was the equivalent of turning the front light on."

Seven nodded satisfied; tilting her head to the side she pondered the correct course of action from this point. "I hope you have a good Velocity game, Kathryn. Would it be acceptable at this point for me to wish you a good night and exchange hugs?"

Kathryn's face relaxed into her mother look and she huskily replied, "Yes it would be acceptable."

Seven walked over to Kathryn and gently bent down and hugged the older woman, "Have a good night Kathryn, and thank you for caring about my wellbeing."

Kathryn returned the hug firmly, allowing herself to acknowledge the bond she had with this one extraordinary person she had freed from the Collective. Kathryn broke the hug and stepped back slightly then reached up and gently cupped Annika's face, "You have a good night as well Annika, and I've always cared about your wellbeing."

Seven flashed to a similar moment with the Borg Queen, looking into Kathryn's eyes now though she saw what had been lacking in the Queen's eyes then. Caring, love, compassion. It was why, after all, she had been able to break the Queen's hold over her to obey Kathryn's order in the Queen's ship.

"I know," Annika admitted softly. "I care about yours as well." The two women stepped back from one another, Annika nodded politely to the now slightly stunned looking Chakotay, "Have a good game Commander." Then she turned back to B'Elanna.

"Captain, Commander," B'Elanna said surprised herself at the openly emotional moment between the Captain and Seven, 'Kathryn and Annika', she corrected to herself. "Enjoy your game." With that the two of them left the Holodeck and proceeded quietly back to Deck 9.

Noting that B'Elanna had remained silent Seven hesitantly asked, "B'Elanna are you displeased with the way our first date ended?"

B'Elanna pulled out of her thoughts looked into Seven's uncertain face and hurried to reassure her, "Surprised by how it ended. I guess I hadn't really considered all the implications of your relationship with the Captain. It's probably best though that she 'turned the front light on'," said B'Elanna with a grin. "I've never had the experience of dealing with a date's parents."

"A new experience for the both of us then," noted Seven. "B'Elanna, I would be pleased if you would call me Annika when we are off duty."

B'Elanna smiled broadly; she had noted the Captain's use of Seven's human name and had been hurt that Seven hadn't yet invited her to use it as well. "I'd be happy to Annika."

They paused in front of Seven's quarters, both of them suddenly hesitant and searching for something to say. B'Elanna finally said, "Thank you for the date Annika, it was wonderful. I'll have to think of something that will be just as nice to invite you to go out with me to."

"You would like to go on another date with me?" Seven asked hesitantly.

"I would be very disappointed if we didn't Annika," B'Elanna said and then stepped forward to pull Seven's face toward hers for a brief kiss. "Good night," B'Elanna wished her as she stepped back from Seven who now had a soft smile on her face.

"Good night B'Elanna," replied Seven as she stepped through the door into her quarters.

* * *

"Do you want me to take Seven off my Away Team list?" Chakotay asked Kathryn after the other two women had left.

"Why would you do that?" asked Kathryn puzzled.

"Well, because of the nature of the relationship between you. I assumed you wouldn't want to put her in any more danger than necessary," Chakotay said hesitantly, unsure of Kathryn's reaction.

Kathryn shook her head, "I would never do that to her, my parent's never tried to shield me from difficulties, and though I may not have appreciated it when I was younger, I do now. I've certainly relied on my early lessons of not to give up just because something was difficult out here in the Delta Quadrant. Besides, out of everyone on this ship, Seven is the most likely to be able to survive an attack and be able to protect the rest of the Away Team."

"So she really did get injured with a spear and just pulled it out and used it to kill the man who attacked her with it?" asked Chakotay who had been uncertain if the fight description had been exaggerated.

"Yes, she did. From her description to me she barely bled from the injury and was pretty much fully healed after an hour. And that was with her walking at a brisk place for the entire time," said Kathryn.

Kathryn still wasn't sure what to think about the extensive modifications that Mulara had made to Annika. In many ways she was, as she had just stated to Chakotay, reassured that Annika could survive most attacks. On the other hand, given what Mulara had told her the other evening she was becoming more concerned that those modifications would be needed for Annika to survive whatever task Mulara asked of her.

"That reminds me," said Kathryn as they began the Velocity program, "I've got a reading list put together for Seven and B'Elanna. I would like you to go over it as well, see if you think I've left out anything important."

"The studies Mulara asked you to start?" inquired Chakotay who had been informed of the events on the Holodeck. He, like the Captain, was dismayed at the thought that Voyager would play such a pivotal role in future events. Though, unlike the Captain, he wasn't as certain that Seven would be able to fulfill the role Mulara had in mind for her.

He was more dismayed by the thought that B'Elanna was getting involved with the ex-Borg, and thus involving herself directly in whatever plans Mulara had for Seven. He had hoped that the two of them would become friends, but the passionate scene he and a positively gleeful Captain had interrupted definitely proved that the rumor mill was correct. He had been confused as to why the Captain had wanted to play such a late Velocity game, but she had filled him in as to her actual reason as they stood outside the Holodeck and waited for Seven's reserved time to expire.

The following scene between Seven and Kathryn had not been one he had expected. He had thought that Seven would be irritated at the very least by Kathryn's actions, and her amused and accepting reaction had surprised him. As had the muted emotional declaration of caring between the two of them that had spurred him to inquire if he should refrain from assigning Seven to any more Away missions.

As they started playing Velocity, Chakotay glanced at Kathryn, thinking that she had seen something special in Seven from the beginning. Perhaps he should trust more in her judgment of Seven than he had previously, he considered.

"Yes, I was planning on starting the training as soon as I finalized their first reading list," said Kathryn.

"Sounds like a good idea, I'll read it over first thing in the morning and get back to you," he offered.

* * *

Seven finished getting ready for bed and slipped underneath the sheets, wishing for a moment that B'Elanna was present to hold her. She accepted that it was a good idea that they hadn't continued their actions on the Holodeck in either of their quarters, however, she didn't like the aching feeling of desire that was still with her.

After turning restlessly for a while, Seven finally got up and lit a candle, starting the first meditation that Tuvok had taught her in an effort to regain control of her emotions enough to sleep.


	2. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 2

**I am Borg – Part 3 - Chapter 2**

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f situations between women.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 9/5/04; 9/19/04

Summary: Alternate events of Warhead.

* * *

"The time is 0600 hours," the voice of the computer waking her up seemed much too loud to Seven given that she had fallen asleep at 0100 hours. Grumbling she forced herself out of bed and into the sonic shower. Seven knew she had a full morning, first an hour's workout in the gym, followed by a quick breakfast. Then she needed to work several hours in Astrometrics before meeting B'Elanna and Harry on the Holodeck, just after lunch, to finish their work on the Jem'Hadar weapon.

Seven did not see B'Elanna until she walked into the mess hall for lunch where B'Elanna and Harry were sitting at a table together. Seven wasn't prepared for the warm rush of feelings that surfaced when she looked at the dark skinned woman, her expressive hands emphasizing something she had just said to Harry.

Just then B'Elanna looked up and saw her, and with a welcoming smile, greeted Seven causing a slight acceleration in her respiratory rate and pulse. Before she could restrain herself Seven responded to the smile with one of her own. Several startled looks directed her way caused the smile to slip away, and Seven reflexively retreated behind her usual cool mask. B'Elanna shook her head slightly at this, but directed a tolerant look at her as Seven went over to Neelix to get a plate of whatever he was serving today.

After getting some of the Leola root stew Seven sat down with the two and B'Elanna quickly filled her in on what they had discussed so far. B'Elanna and Harry had been going over what they knew about the weapon and discussing what testing they should do to answer the remaining questions they had about it. Seven listened intently as she ate her meal then made a few observations that got the discussion rolling again. Between the three of them, when 1400 hours arrived, they had a fair idea of what needed to be done to complete their research of the weapon.

After a few more hours in the Holodeck the three of them felt they were ready for the next stage of their work, actually building a working model of the weapon in Engineering. Harry declined their invitation to work on building the weapon components citing his need to sleep before needing to be on the bridge as duty officer during gamma shift.

Seven and B'Elanna headed to Engineering both of them very interested in building a working power cell. If they were able to build it, they knew they could modify the more powerful cell to work in Federation phaser rifles. And that would give them a needed advantage out here in the Delta Quadrant.

It was 1900 hours, "B'Elanna I believe we should take a break and consume food. Perhaps an increase in blood sugar would enhance our ability to solve the problem," said Seven.

B'Elanna sighed in frustration, Seven was probably correct, a break for food might be just what they needed. They had been trying to solve the latest problem for a full hour with no luck. "Alright let's go see what Neelix had come up with tonight," she agreed.

An hour later when they went back to engineering it was not long before a renewed discussion of the problem bore promising fruit. By midnight the two of then were looking at a working Jem'Hadar power cell that matched the output of the one on the Holodeck perfectly.

"B'Elanna, I believe there are several modifications we can make to improve the reliability, power flow, and longevity of this power cell," Seven said, already thinking of how to apply her Borg knowledge to the design of the cell now that they understood how it worked.

B'Elanna nodded, "I've got some ideas on how to modify it for Federation use and maybe even increase the total capacity of the cell. It's a very different design than what we use, and its better, but it does have some room for improvement doesn't it? I bet these things rupture and blow up on a fairly regular basis. I guess the Dominion doesn't care that it's not as safe as it could be," B'Elanna yawned.

"I believe it is time we got some sleep, B'Elanna. We can begin designing the modifications tomorrow morning," suggested Seven.

"Sounds like a good idea Seven," then musingly B'Elanna commented, "I wonder how Harry's doing on the bridge?"

They proceeded to Deck 9 and paused outside of B'Elanna's quarters. "Come in for some bloodwine Seven?" inquired B'Elanna.

"That would be nice," responded Seven as she followed B'Elanna into her quarters. A few moments later B'Elanna handed her a glass of replicated wine and sat down on the couch. Seven followed suit a moment later sitting down beside her. When B'Elanna wearily rested her head against the back of the couch Seven took a moment to examine the features of the woman beside her. Despite the tired circles under B'Elanna's eyes she was still very beautiful to Seven.

Seven took a few more sips of her wine then quickly retrieved B'Elanna's glass which was listing heavily to one side as she dozed on the couch. Placing both of the glasses on the coffee table Seven stood and slid her hands under the half-Klingon's back and knees, easily lifting her from the couch.

"What?" came the startled sleepy response from B'Elanna as Seven carried her into her bedroom and laid her on the bed. "Stay with me Annika," asked B'Elanna, "I'm too tired to do anything but sleep; I just would like for you to be here."

Seven, still crouched over the bed, looked down at the sleepily blinking woman and considered her request for a moment. Seven debated the wisdom of staying, then realized that she didn't want to leave, the thought of cradling B'Elanna in her arms all night was too enticing to walk away from.

"You should change into something to sleep in and I should as well," said Seven.

B'Elanna nodded and sat up then shuffled to the shelves inset into the wall and pulled a set of dark red satin night clothes from it. Turning her back to Seven she quickly stripped out of her uniform and underclothes and pulled on the pajamas then laid the uniform over a convenient chair for recycling in the morning.

Seven found she was having trouble breathing, the sight of B'Elanna disrobing, seeing her bare muscular back and legs. 'Just sleeping, will be a hard task' thought Seven as she brought her breathing under control only to loose it again as she opened her eyes to see the red draped form of B'Elanna standing in front of her holding an ice blue set of night clothes like those she wore.

Seven reached out and accepted them, glancing as she did so into the eyes of the woman she was so strongly attracted to and realizing they were dancing with amusement. Seven realized that B'Elanna knew exactly what the effect of her undressing in front of her had been, either because of her sense of smell or by design.

That realization was all Seven needed to change her mind about undressing in B'Elanna's bathroom. Putting aside her doubts about her current course of action, Seven moved over to the chair B'Elanna had undressed in front of and turned her back to B'Elanna. Keeping a slow but steady pace she unhurriedly stripped off her uniform jumper and removed her bra then pulled on the satin night clothes. The phrase 'playing with fire' ran through her mind, as she heard the sharply indrawn breath of the woman behind her.

B'Elanna hadn't really thought things through when she decided to change clothes in front of Seven. She had only been hoping that Seven would find her beautiful and had been pleased to see the obvious reaction the woman had to her actions. Never had she thought that Seven would return the favor, and the slow almost leisurely pace with which she did so... 'Kathless, she is beautiful', thought B'Elanna as she beheld the exoskeleton design across Seven's back for the first time.

When Seven turned around B'Elanna took one long look at the satin draped form and started wondering if she was possibly tired enough to actually manage to sleep beside this woman. B'Elanna was highly embarrassed to hear a higher pitched growl that sounded suspiciously like it was mixed with a whine issuing from her throat. From the raised brow she received from Seven, B'Elanna knew she had noticed it as well.

"Perhaps I should go to my own quarters," offered Seven reluctantly.

"No," said B'Elanna. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that it was late and she wanted the first time with Seven to be special. "I am tired, and I want our first time to be something special for both of us; which means when I'm fully awake and when we have several hours free." B'Elanna felt herself calming down as she said this. "Which side of the bed do you want?" she asked.

Seven looked at her searchingly for a moment then nodded, "I usually find myself on the left side of the bed."

B'Elanna nodded and went over to the right hand side of the bed and slipped in under the sheets. She laid on her back and looked at Seven, waiting till she got into the other side of the bed then ordered the lights off. Tentatively she shifted over toward Seven till she felt the woman's arm beside hers, reaching down she laid her hand over Seven's and smiled when Seven entwined their fingers.

Giving a contented sigh B'Elanna felt the softness of the bed and the warm presence beside her relaxing her. Sleepily B'Elanna wondered why Seven had a comforting effect on her and could only come up with the fact that Seven felt 'right' beside her. Like something she had been missing without ever knowing.

Seven listened to B'Elanna's breathing even out into sleep, she was not as tired as B'Elanna was but then she needed less sleep than the half-Klingon due to her Borg/Mularan physiology. She was enjoying watching B'Elanna sleep when the woman rolled toward her. Instinctively Seven moved her arm so that B'Elanna could cuddle up beside her.

As Seven glanced down at the head of the woman which now rested on her shoulder she felt a rush of tenderness which moved her to drop a kiss on the brown hair. Seven was drifting off to sleep when she felt B'Elanna shift again, this time to drape a definitely possessive arm and leg over the ex-drones body. Seven smiled and wrapped both arms around B'Elanna, feeling rather pleased by the woman's possessiveness. Seven's last thought before she fell asleep was of how good it felt to have B'Elanna wrapped around her.

"The time is 0600 hours," announced the voice of the computer, waking up both women.

B'Elanna was surprised to find herself resting essentially on top of Seven with a leg thrown over hers and one arm curled possessively around her midriff. A sudden awareness of Seven's body under hers immediately followed her realization of where she was resting.

B'Elanna groaned to herself as she ran through the tasks she had to accomplish today in Engineering. Reluctantly she concluded that she could not possibly ask for a day off. So instead of staying wrapped around Seven B'Elanna slowly pulled away from her and looking up exchanged a regretful look. "Good morning Annika," she said with a smile.

"Good morning B'Elanna," Seven replied somewhat huskily.

B'Elanna shifted herself further up in the bed and leaned over Seven, slowly bringing their lips together in a gentle kiss that rapidly grew in passion. When Seven brought up both hands to B'Elanna's back and pulled B'Elanna more firmly against her, B'Elanna regretfully groaned and pulled away. "I have to go to Engineering this morning Seven, though I wish I could take the day off and make love to you. Soon though, Kathless it had better be soon or I think I'll loose my mind... I'd better go take a shower now," B'Elanna almost babbled as she forced herself to get out of bed and away from the temptation of Seven.

Grabbing her uniform and a robe B'Elanna hurried out of the bedroom leaving behind Seven, who sat up in the bed and stared after the retreating woman, confused. Reluctantly Seven got out of bed and walked over to the replicator, ordering some coffee with milk and enough Quara fruit for the both of them. As she ate Seven reviewed the events in the bedroom tying to figure out B'Elanna's actions.

Reluctantly Seven decided it had been mostly her fault, B'Elanna had been willing to exchange kisses with her until she had attempted to deepen the intimacy between them whereupon B'Elanna had pulled away knowing that they had to begin their duty shifts shortly. Something that Seven had forgotten entirely in that moment, it was a good thing B'Elanna had been more responsible than she. Seven smiled wryly, agreeing with B'Elanna's comment that they would have to have physical intimacy soon. B'Elanna obviously wasn't the only one who was starting to feel overwhelmed by the intensity of the desire between them.

B'Elanna stepped out of her bathroom dressed in a fresh uniform and looked rather uncertainly at Seven, not quite certain what to say after her ungraceful retreat earlier. "Would you like some Quara fruit, B'Elanna?" offered Seven, "I believe you will enjoy the taste, it is a Mularan fruit."

B'Elanna focused her attention on the plate of fruit slices Seven was offering her and took a slice. Surprised at the taste she said, "This is good; it reminds me of nut bread."

"The remainder is for you, I have already eaten my fill," said Seven, "If I might use your shower?"

"Of course," replied B'Elanna accepting the plate of fruit.

Seven went back into the bedroom and retrieved her uniform; laying it on the bed she quickly passed her hands over it, activating the self cleaning properties of the material. When she was finished she replicated her self some under clothes and with her uniform in hand went to use B'Elanna's shower.

When she finished and returned to the living area B'Elanna was looking over some padds intently. She looked up when Seven walked out of the bathroom, "I need to get going, will you be in engineering this afternoon to continue working on the Jem'Hadar weapon?"

"As soon as I have completed my work in Astrometrics I will join you in engineering," answered Seven.

"Great, I'll see you for lunch?" B'Elanna inquired.

Seven smiled as at her as they walked out of B'Elanna's quarters, "That is acceptable, I will contact you to arrange the time later."

The two of them went their separate ways at the turbolift, Seven to Astrometrics, B'Elanna to Engineering. Seven had read the morning's reports and found out about the distress call that Ensign Kim had responded to by diverting their course. The away team had found that the source of the signal was an artificial intelligence and had transported it aboard Voyager. Later in the morning when Janeway walked into Astrometrics, Seven was already scanning the surface of the planet looking for any other signs of technology like the artificial intelligence that currently resided in Engineering where Harry and B'Elanna were busy examining it.

Janeway requested that she scan for metallic particles similar to the AI's and it did not take Seven long to locate them. Unfortunately they were located within impact craters that were 200 km in diameter, a closer scan of the crater confirmed what they both had suspected upon seeing it. The AI in engineering was a weapon.

During the following senior staff meeting Seven, when asked for suggestions, first recommended destroying the weapon. When that met with resistance from the Doctor she suggested returning it to the surface and leaving a warning buoy. She knew the Doctor was outraged by her lack of sympathy for the AI, but she was far more concerned with the thought of the danger the weapon represented to the crew and especially to a certain Chief Engineer. The Captain, however, was moved by the Doctor's argument that they attempt to save the AI by transferring it's matrix to a hologram and separate it from its weapon components.

When the AI seized control of the Doctor's matrix and sealed Sickbay, accusing Harry and B'Elanna of trying to deactivate it, Seven's nebulous fears became reality. She immediately began reviewing everything Harry and B'Elanna had found out about the weapon so far, looking for a way to safely neutralize it. When Janeway called for another staff meeting Seven still hadn't come up with any good ideas, though she now had a better idea of the weapons capabilities.

When Lt. Paris suggested lowering the shields around Sickbay and beaming the weapon away Seven was able to inform him that the weapon would be able to arm itself and detonate before Voyager could get a safe distance away. Seven was relieved when Neelix brought up the idea of asking one of the regional traders about the weapon. He had noticed that a power node he had acquired from them used similar technology, perhaps they might have more information about the AI.

Not surprisingly when the trader offered to take the weapon off their hands the Captain was unwilling due to concerns about whom such a device might be sold to. Seven was taken aback when the trader opened fire on their ship trying to beam the weapon away. She was more astonished when the AI was able to send a feedback surge to the trader ship that destroyed it when the trader attempted to transport the weapon away. Seven made a mental note to herself to check the sensor logs later to try and determine exactly how the weapon had accomplished that, she was rather impressed.

When the third staff meeting was called Seven had only one suggestion to make that had any chance that she could see of succeeding. The trader had given them some basic schematics of the weapon, Seven could tell there were details missing but there was enough there to give her hope that she could use her nanoprobes to disrupt the bio-neural circuitry of the weapon. The difficulty in her plan was that she would need direct access to the weapon's primary control port.

The Captain tentatively accepted her suggestion if they could come up with a way of getting her into Sickbay and distract the AI while she was accessing the control port. A group comprised of Lt. Paris, Seven and Neelix was formed, and within a few hours had a workable plan to present to Chakotay.

Lt. Paris, using the inertial dampeners in a decidedly unorthodox manner, would pretend that the ship was encountering mines. Neelix would doctor Seven so it would appear that she had been injured in a plasma leak to get her into Sickbay. Once she was there Tuvok would disrupt the power to the Doctor's matrix allowing Seven time to access the control port of the weapon. Chakotay thought about it for a few minutes then nodded and gave them the go ahead to prepare for the deception, he would inform the Captain of their plan.

Seven had instructed her exoskeleton to grow an overlay of skin when the idea of her suffering plasma burns had first been brought up as a means of getting her into Sickbay. The astonished looks on the faces of her crewmates as her exoskeleton was slowly covered over made Seven realize that they had never seen her without some sign of her Borgness; the last time she had done this had been back on Mulara when she was testing out the different exoskeleton colors.

Thus by the time that Neelix was ready to create the appearance of plasma burns he had a clean canvas, so to speak, to work upon. Seven sat very still as Neelix worked going over the plan in her mind and worrying about the missing specifics in the diagrams the trader had given them. When Neelix had completed his work they met with the team one last time to go over last minute details, then they took their positions in the corridor outside of Sickbay and awaited the signal for Seven to pretend to be injured.

After a few minutes while the ship jolted from Lt. Paris's maneuvers, Neelix and Seven got the notification from Janeway they had been expecting. Seven carefully collapsed into Neelix's arms and let herself go limp as he dragged her into Sickbay. A frantically worried half-Klingon awaited them just inside the doors unaware of the deception that was occurring.

"Seven!" B'Elanna exclaimed in a panicked tone as the doors opened and Neelix dragged in the apparently unconscious woman. Seven felt B'Elanna's arms around her shoulders as B'Elanna took over from Neelix and they both raised her to one of the biobeds. Then there was a gentle touch on her hand and Seven could almost see the puzzled look on B'Elanna's face as she realized that Seven's exoskeleton was not showing. Seven hoped B'Elanna would figure out that she wasn't actually injured; she did not want her to continue to be worried.

Just then Seven heard the words she had been waiting for from the AI, he, or rather his stolen holomatrix was destabilizing and he was demanding that the Captain tell him what was going on. As soon as the Captain informed him that they had sustained damage to the secondary systems and he would have to stand by Seven opened her eyes and looked into the face of a bewildered B'Elanna Torres.

"What's going on here?" B'Elanna asked in an aggravated tone.

As Neelix explained that Seven was going to try and defuse the weapon Seven extended her tubules, wincing as they tore through the new skin covering her exoskeleton and interfaced with the command port. Immediately she realized that the missing sections of the schematic were indeed critical, the system immediately reacted to her intrusion. She attempted to counter it but she had too little knowledge of what she was fighting against.

As a feedback surge entered her system Seven felt a flash of anger at herself, she had underestimated the AI and it's abilities and had failed to save B'Elanna and the ship. It felt as if someone had set her exoskeleton on fire Seven realized dimly as she frantically sought to disengage her tubules from the port. Suddenly she felt someone forcefully pull her away from the weapon.

"Seven," she heard both B'Elanna and Neelix exclaim.

From the closeness of B'Elanna's voice Seven was able to guess that she was the one who had pulled her away from the port, disengaging her tubules and saving her from further damage. Seven realized with some fear that she couldn't respond to B'Elanna, she was still aware of her surroundings, but she couldn't seem to move. After a few moments of frantic effort to force her body to cooperate Seven forced herself to calm down and run what diagnostics she could to determine what the problem was.

Seven felt herself being lifted once again onto the biobed and allowed herself to feel a moment of irony, now she actually did need medical attention. As information flowed into her cortical implant Seven realized that the feedback surge along her tubules had damaged her neural fibers, her body had automatically blocked certain pathways to her brain in an effort to prevent damage to her neural pathways. The effort had not entirely succeeded as certain areas had been damaged. This was why she could not currently move but her nanoprobes were repairing her as quickly as possible.

Seven was relieved when she realized that she would probably be healthy enough to move within the next 10 minutes or so and entirely healed within the hour. With a time limit on her helplessness, Seven allowed herself to relax somewhat and enjoyed the feel of B'Elanna stroking her hair. Seven had heard Neelix quietly tell B'Elanna that he thought she would make a full recovery on her own and that there were signs that she was already repairing herself, so she was hopeful that B'Elanna would not be too upset with her.

Seven focused on the sounds around her and realized that the other bombs that had been fired with this one had found Voyager and were demanding that they release the weapon in Sickbay so they could tractor it with them to their destination. In the mean time, Harry was busy arguing with the AI about some codes it had received ordering it to disarm itself. As the argument continued Seven realized Harry was succeeding in getting the AI to recognize that the war had ceased and it had been launched in error.

Suddenly Seven realized that Harry was talking about her as he used her injuries to point out that the weapon already had one victim and was it prepared to kill several million people. From the following conversation it was clear that Harry had made his point, the AI was attempting to get its fellows to accept the orders and disarm themselves. Unfortunately the other thirty-two bombs did not believe that it had received the orders before crossing the targeting threshold.

Suddenly the AI asked to be beamed to the other weapons assuring Harry that it would make sure that the other weapons never reached their target. Confused at first Seven quickly realized what the AI planned to do, it would detonate itself before reaching its target. In such close proximity to the others, it would destroy them as well.

Harry obviously believed the weapon as well, for he asked B'Elanna to help him reprogram it's bio-neural matrix. Seven felt B'Elanna leave and strained her hearing to determine what was happening. In a few moments she heard Harry ask the Captain to lock onto the weapon and prepare to transport it into space. Janeway paused as if to measure the confidence in his voice and then agreed, a few moments later she heard B'Elanna tell Harry that she had completed reconfiguring the weapon's matrix.

Seven heard Harry ask the AI if it was ready and it apparently replied with an non-verbal affirmative for the next thing she heard was Harry telling it that he was sorry. The AI replied that it was completing it's mission, only that the target had changed. There was a long moment of silence then B'Elanna informed Harry that the transfer was complete. A few seconds later Seven heard the voice of the Doctor.

"Please state the nature of the emergency..." the Doctor's voice trailed off and he started asking what had happened an how long had he been offline.

B'Elanna cut him off and apparently dragged him over toward Seven for the next thing Seven heard was B'Elanna's voice near her telling the Doctor that he needed to treat her.

Seven heard the minute sound of the medical tricorder being run over her then the Doctor's voice said, "She's sustained quite a lot of injury to her neural pathways. It looks like her Mularan systems reacted to some type of feedback surge by breaking and in some cases blocking her neural pathways. Her nanoprobes are busy reconnecting them, she's entirely conscious of what's happening around her right now she just can't move. She should be regaining control of some of her nervous system within the next fifteen seconds or so."

Since this matched what Seven had determined ten minutes ago she was pleased to hear the Doctor confirm her diagnostic results. As she felt control of her body returning to her Seven opened her eyes, the blurry world that greeted her was disconcerting and she blinked several times trying to clear it.

"Fine control of the muscles around the lens of your eye are not completely re-established, Seven. You should be able to focus in a few minutes when all the neural connections are established," commented the Doctor upon seeing her difficulty.

Seven was able to nod and with difficulty reply, "Thank you Doctor. B'Elanna?"

"I'm right here Seven," said B'Elanna and a dark blur moved into view as Seven felt her hand being grasped in a firm reassuring grip.

Over the Sickbay communications channel the four of them heard the Captain say, "Bridge to Ensign Kim, the weapons have been destroyed." There was utter silence in Sickbay as they absorbed the meaning of the message. Seven felt a moment of admiration and sorrow for the AI which like One, had gained individuality and had chosen to sacrifice itself to preserve the lives of others.

Seven blinked again and was relived to see that things were coming into focus; she could now distinguish B'Elanna's form from the Doctor's instead of them both being indistinct people shaped blurs. Seven was now able to grip B'Elanna's hand reassuringly, "I misjudged the defensive capabilities of the weapon," she rather sheepishly admitted. Seven could tell that B'Elanna was staring at her.

"I would say so," B'Elanna replied, "You could have been killed Seven. Why did you do that and why did the Captain let you?" she exclaimed in a clearly upset tone.

Seven winced, "I neglected to tell her the information we obtained from the trader was missing several pieces of information."

There was silence from B'Elanna, but the Doctor broke in with an aggrieved tone, "Maybe I should run some diagnostics on your cortical node, obviously it's affecting your judgment." He paused for a moment, "And while I'm at it I should run one on myself as well. What happened, why was I deactivated?"

Seven's improving vision allowed her to see that Harry had come over to the group, now he pulled the Doctor aside and started explaining what had occurred to him.

"Seven," said B'Elanna, "why did you not tell the Captain about the missing information."

"She would have prevented me from making the attempt," explained Seven.

"Why would I have prevented you from making the attempt? And speaking of which, what went wrong?" the Captain appeared suddenly behind B'Elanna.

"She forgot to mention that the plans you got from some trader were rather incomplete," B'Elanna explained to the Captain in a tight tone.

"The weapon had more defensive capabilities than where included in the schematics Onquani gave us. I was damaged by a feedback pulse it was able to generate within my Mularan exoskeleton," Seven explained to the Captain. "I was aware there were elements missing in the diagrams, but I had not anticipated they were so... extensive."

"And you neglected to mention this to me," said the Captain coming up alongside the biobed.

Seven sighed internally and forced herself to move enough to sit up so the two women were not looming over her. "At the time I did not feel they were serious enough to mention to you Captain."

"Yet obviously they were," Janeway said giving Seven a serious look.

"Yes," admitted Seven reluctantly.

"Well you still haven't explained to me why you took such a risk!" B'Elanna exclaimed loudly.

Seven looked her in the eyes, "You were in danger," she explained simply.

B'Elanna stared at her with frustration apparent in her gaze and stance. "Damn it Seven don't risk yourself like that again."

"You would rather I did not care about you as much as I do," asked Seven feeling rather chilled suddenly.

"No!" B'Elanna said, then moved up close and loosely embraced her, "You just really frightened me." B'Elanna spoke as she rested her head against Seven's shoulder.

Seven put her arms around B'Elanna's shoulders and pulled her closer as the Captain gazed at them with a small smile playing about her lips. "I am sorry," Seven apologized.

"What's going on here?" came the voice of the Doctor. Seven and B'Elanna looked up from where they were resting their foreheads against one another at the bewildered and hurt looking hologram.

"Doctor, I need to speak with you about a few things," said the Captain. "Seven will make a full recovery?"

The Doctor looked back and forth at the three women, "Well yes, she should be fully recovered already."

"Then you two should probably go to lunch," suggested the Captain to Seven and B'Elanna. Then she reached out and placed a firm hand on the Doctor's arm, "I've been meaning to ask you some questions about the social training you prepared for Seven, Doctor," the Captain said as she drew him away into his office. Over her shoulder she said to Seven, "Seven, I'll discuss your actions with you later this afternoon."

Seven nodded, not particularly looking forward to the conversation as she slid down from the biobed and tested her legs. Discovering that they appeared to be functioning perfectly she turned to B'Elanna, "I believe we were supposed to have lunch together?"


	3. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 3

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 3**

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f situations between women.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 10/11/04

Summary: Seven and Janeway discuss Seven's choice in Ch. 2. M'ara gives Seven and B'Elanna some interesting information. Seven, B'Elanna and Harry finish work on the Jem'Hadar weapon. Seven prepares for her second date.

* * *

Seven made her way toward Holodeck 2 where she would meet B'Elanna for their training session. Her thoughts drifted momentarily to the events of the afternoon, the meeting with the Captain had been... uncomfortable seemed like too mild a word for the experience. Janeway had made it obvious that she had disappointed and hurt by Seven purposefully leaving out such critical information. And that had only been the Captain to crewmember part of the discussion.

The mother to daughter discussion had happened right afterward, its start signaled by the Captain shifting to the use of her birth name. "What were you thinking Annika? I understand you wanted to save B'Elanna, but being reckless doesn't help anyone." Kathryn paused only for a moment then continued, "I don't want to think that I can no longer trust your judgment when it comes to situations involving her."

Seven had winced internally at the statement, "Captain... Kathryn." She corrected herself after receiving sharp glance in response to her use of rank. "I made an error; I underestimated the capabilities of the weapon." Seven grimaced, "Something I should not have done, given the sophistication of the attack it carried out against the trader who attempted to take it from us."

"I was mistaken when I did not tell you everything I knew. Though you might have forbid me from trying, you might have also foreseen the weapon's reaction and come up with a method of defense. I did not give you the..." Seven searched for the correct phrase, "benefit of a doubt when I assumed in which manner you would act."

"No you didn't," replied Kathryn in a softer tone, her anger apparently dampened for the moment. "Annika, I might not have approved your plan had I known, but I would have understood your need to do something to help B'Elanna." Kathryn looked thoughtful for a moment, "I think I overestimated your abilities, as well as forgetting about your feelings for B'Elanna, I should have talked to your group myself instead of letting Chakotay handle all of it."

Kathryn continued, "You have to learn how to balance your feeling for B'Elanna with your professional duties. Normally I would not assign someone to a rescue mission when they have an emotional involvement with one of the one's being rescued. But your unique abilities mean that you get assigned to away missions more often than others,"

Kathryn paused right after she said that and looked out the viewport at the stars pensively. After a few moments she turned and looked sadly at Seven. "How can I expect you to separate your feelings in such a manner when I couldn't manage when it came to Justin and my father..." she trailed off.

Impulsively Seven walked over to Kathryn and gripped her lightly about the arm, "I understand that I should not have let my feeling for B'Elanna override my logical assessment of the situation. I will attempt to not let them do so in the future."

"I know you will I'm just saying that first love is... well it can be overwhelming. It's very easy to let your feelings overrun your judgment," Kathryn patted Seven's hand where it was resting on her arm as she said this.

Seven nodded thinking of how she had forgotten about when her duty shift began this morning when B'Elanna had kissed her, and completely unaware of the smile that had crept across her face as she did so.

Kathryn raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly, causing Seven to look at her curiously. Kathryn shook her head briefly, "I do wish we had the luxury of letting you discover love like most of us did, the impulsive asking of a day off, paying less attention than you should to your duties because you're thinking of being with that special someone. It's an experience you would have probably already had if you hadn't been assimilated."

Seven looked at Kathryn surprised, the conversation had taken several unexpected turns and Seven was uncertain what if any response she should give to Kathryn's last statement.

One side of Kathryn's mouth turned up in a half smile, "What I mean is that I wish we were in a situation where I could let you have the experiences most of your peer's have had. Instead here I am lecturing you on how we... I... can't afford for you to be distracted because of your feeling for B'Elanna."

"Seven?" the subject of Seven and Kathryn's conversation broke into the ex-Borg's thoughts.

Startled Seven blinked and brought herself back to the present, smiling at the woman who stood beside her, "I am sorry I was thinking of my conversation with the Captain earlier."

B'Elanna winced, "How did that go, was she very hard on you?"

Seven considered the question with a tilted head, "It was an interesting conversation." This statement drew a questioning raised eye from B'Elanna. "She was disappointed with my actions." Seven paused for a moment, "She also said that she wished she had the luxury of allowing me to experience love like the other member's of the crew have. Apparently it is expected that the emotion will affect judgment and cause one to act in a less than efficient manner?"

B'Elanna smiled, "You could say that. If it's any consolation you're not alone, I've never fallen in love yet either."

"Is that what we are doing?" asked Seven curiously.

B'Elanna put her hands on her hips and gave Seven a slightly narrow eyed look, "I thought it was."

Seven eyed her uncertainly, not quite sure why B'Elanna was displeased, "I do not precisely know what is occurring between us B'Elanna. It is different from what I felt for Jorunn, it is..." Seven broke off as Lt. Paris and Ensign Kim exited the Holodeck.

"Well hello ladies, you two playing your infiltrator program?" asked Tom.

Seven replied, "No Lt. Paris tonight is unarmed combat practice."

"I really should give that program a try, is the instructor the Mularan's programmed any good?" asked Ensign Kim.

B'Elanna coughed causing everyone to glance at her and Seven fought to keep from smiling at the innocent question. "I have found the instructor to be quite satisfactory," Seven commented.

Harry looked surprised, "That's quite a complement coming from you, now I'll definitely have to try it out." He looked inquiringly at Tom.

"Ah... Sure, Harry I used to actually like unarmed combat back at the Academy. I should probably get back in practice," Tom said.

"I think you two will enjoy it," said B'Elanna, "And we should be getting started if you two would excuse us." B'Elanna followed up her comment with bringing up the training program at the Holodeck controls.

"Ah, sure, don't let us keep you," said Tom with a raised eye.

"Coming along Seven?" B'Elanna asked as she stepped through the Holodeck doors.

"Lt. Paris, Ensign Kim," Seven nodded to the two men politely and followed B'Elanna into the Holodeck staring curiously at the half-Klingon.

B'Elanna waited till the doors were closed then whirled to face Seven, "How is it different from what you felt for Jorunn," she asked.

Seven blinked, "You were rude to Lt. Paris and Ensign Kim because you wished to know the remainder of my statement."

It was not a question but a statement and B'Elanna replied, "Yes, now finish it... please."

Seven looked at B'Elanna keenly, then reached out and cupped B'Elanna's face with her hands and drew B'Elanna closer. "My feelings for you, my desire for you, is much more intense." With that Seven kissed her trying to show B'Elanna the emotions she was feeling since she could not find the words to describe them.

The kiss was soft and tender for several moments, then Seven heard B'Elanna growl and she was slowly pushed backward until her back rested against a convenient tree, slowly but certainly the shorter woman took control of the kiss and it became more passionate. When B'Elanna took Seven's wrists in her hands and pushed them around the tree behind her, Seven could have protested but she did not want to, for B'Elanna's body was pressing her firmly against the tree and the continual low growl now coming from B'Elanna aroused her.

Seven let her head fall back to rest against the bark of the tree when B'Elanna's lips left her own and trailed kisses and gentle nips along her jaw line and then explored her neck, unaware of the low moans coming from her own lips. The loose neckline of Seven's Mularan shirt allowed B'Elanna access to explore the line of Seven's collarbone but no further. Aggravated by this B'Elanna let go of Seven's wrists where she had been holding them and reached to tear off the waist wrap. That accomplished she slipped her hands under Seven's shirt and slid them up Seven's back as she returned her lips to Seven's.

"Well I understand what has been keeping you two now, you've been thinking of trying out a different type of unarmed exercise," the amused voice of M'ara intruded abruptly.

B'Elanna let out a frustrated growl as she removed her hands from under Seven's shirt and stepped away from her and turned around to face the Klingon hologram.

Seven, brought rather abruptly out of the sensual haze she had fallen into, moved away from the tree she had been pressed against by B'Elanna. Steadying her breathing, Seven looked inquiringly at M'ara, wondering why the Mularan goddess had sought them out. She understood Kathryn's concerns to be of a parental nature, but was unaware of what objections M'ara might have.

M'ara smirked at the angry look B'Elanna was directing towards her, "Let us walk through the gardens for a few moments," she said and proceeded to do as she suggested, turning after a few steps to look at them commandingly. Intrigued Seven nodded and looked at B'Elanna entreatingly; finally the half-Klingon sighed and nodded.

The three of them walked along the path toward the gardens, M'ara was silent until they reached the first bedded area of red and yellow flowering plants, then she stopped to look at them. "Seven you know that I shall ask you to accomplish a task for me, what you do not know though is that I have told B'Elanna that you task will be easier if you have a partner that will support and help you. Now I am telling both of you, the task I will require of Seven will be made much easier if there are two, not one, attempting it."

B'Elanna, having heard this before merely nodded in acknowledgement of M'ara's words. Seven who had not known of M'ara's conversation with B'Elanna was, of course, much more surprised by this information.

"I have also mentioned to B'Elanna, and now I will to you as well Seven, that you two should be certain of your feelings for one another before you enter into a more... intimate relationship. If you two begin a relationship and then one of you decides you were mistaken then Seven will most certainly fail her task." M'ara looked at them with a solemn expression on her face as she said the last.

The two women looked at one another with grave expressions for a moment, then Seven said, "B'Elanna you never shared this information with me."

"I... "B'Elanna looked confused for a moment as she halted what she had been planning to say, then she began looking embarrassed, "I forgot to."

Seven looked at her surprised but M'ara broke in again, "This would need to happen anyway, but in order to insure a certain level of commitment from you both I will link B'Elanna's development of her implant and exoskeleton to the onset of intimate relations between the two of you."

Two sets of eyes focused on M'ara unwaveringly as they both absorbed this unexpected information. "B'Elanna will become as I am?" asked Seven.

"Not exactly as you are, but yes the same implants and supportive structures. Her exoskeleton will develop differently from yours though. It will be uniquely hers, as yours is uniquely yours," responded M'ara.

"I'll get the photographic memory and the Borg engineering knowledge as well?" B'Elanna finally responded to the information with intrigue rather than dismay.

M'ara chuckled, "It was supposed to cause you to hesitate, not be an incentive," the Klingon woman said grumbling, but with a smile. "Yes, you will receive all the knowledge Seven has gained from the Borg, without paying the high price she had to pay for the receiving of it. And due to the cortical node you will gain the photographic memory."

B'Elanna sobered at the comment, "Seven..." B'Elanna hesitated searching for the words to ask the ex-Borg whether or not she would resent her gaining the engineering knowledge.

Seven stepped toward B'Elanna and raised her hand and gently touched the side of B'Elanna's face. "I would not want you to become Borg for that knowledge, but I am troubled by the thought of you becoming like I am, how will the rest of the crew treat you?"

B'Elanna looked troubled, "Hasn't everyone been treating you better since you returned Seven?"

"Yes, but it is clear that it is only because they fear you and the Captain. I do not want to be the cause of you being treated as I am treated," Seven said with a dismayed expression.

"Well since I was the main cause of your problems," B'Elanna glanced at M'ara as she said this with a shamed expression, "I doubt I will have the same issue, and maybe once they know we are together they will believe me when I say that I was wrong to treat you the way I did."

"There is one other consideration," M'ara spoke up, "When there are two of you, you will be able to share one other characteristic of the Borg. You can know each other's thoughts and feelings." She held up a reassuring hand to the both of them upon seeing their suddenly apprehensive expressions, "you will not loose your individuality, the implants you will both have will not make either of you a slave to the other, only allow you to know each others thoughts."

Seven and B'Elanna stared for a moment at M'ara then glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes uncertainly. Neither of them seemed willing to discuss what M'ara had just told them.

M'ara smirked at them both, "You seem suddenly quiet, perhaps now we can head to the training area and get some unarmed combat training accomplished."

Seven wasn't certain how she felt about the possibility of B'Elanna being able to know her thoughts and feelings. Even though she had been part of the Collective and had shared their thoughts, it hadn't been as an individual. Her thoughts had been ordered and task driven, not at all like the chaotic collection that she experienced as an individual. She wanted to get closer to B'Elanna but she wasn't certain she wanted to give up the privacy of her own mind, not when she had just gotten used to having it.

Glancing at B'Elanna as they quietly walked to the pavilion, Seven realized that she wasn't quite entirely certain that B'Elanna's opinion of her had changed or if B'Elanna was only being nice out of guilt. Seven didn't really want to find out that the later was correct.

B'Elanna was uncomfortable with the silence that had grown between them since M'ara's second revelation to them. She knew she wasn't comfortable with the idea of anyone else knowing her thoughts and feelings, not even Seven. But she was hurt at the same time by the evidence that Seven, who at least had more experience with such a situation, didn't seem to want B'Elanna to know her thoughts either.

B'Elanna knew this wasn't fair of her, to want to know Seven's thoughts without sharing her own, but it was just an example of one of the reason's she didn't want her thoughts known to Seven. She didn't want Seven to know how self absorbed she often was, the extent with which she considered Seven's feelings recently was unusual for her and a sign of how much her feelings had grown for the other woman.

Both women were relieved when they reached the pavilion and M'ara set them to practicing separately against multiple opponents. It allowed them to quit focusing on each other's silence and focus on something else entirely. When it came time for their time on the Holodeck to expire they both became tense and nervous again, as they stepped out of the Holodeck

B'Elanna sighed in frustration, "Seven lets go to my quarters and talk about this over a bloodwine. I can't stand this... silence between us."

It was evidence of Seven's mental state that she replied, "I will comply," to B'Elanna instead of a less Borg like statement.

When they reached B'Elanna's quarters B'Elanna indicated that Seven should enter first and then went over to the replicator to get two glasses of bloodwine. She silently handed Seven's glass to her and then sat down beside her on the couch silently.

After a few silent moments they began in unison, "Seven," "B'Elanna."

They smiled briefly at each other as they both halted and glanced at each other. "B'Elanna," began Seven again, speaking first, "I should be more comfortable with the thought of you being linked to me." She stared pensively at the carpeted floor for a moment before continuing. "I became accustomed to the silence in my mind only a year ago. I now find myself uneasy at the thought of loosing that privacy."

B'Elanna glanced at Seven in surprise, and then reflected that Seven's reasoning shouldn't really have been a surprise to her. Just because she had been part of the Collective and had once wanted to return to it didn't mean that she wanted to return to a similar situation now. B'Elanna took another sip of her wine appreciating its thick rich flavor. "I'm... well I guess I'm afraid you won't like me much if you get to know me too well," admitted B'Elanna hesitantly.

Seven looked at B'Elanna in surprise for a moment then realized suddenly that their opinions of one another would affect the link between them very differently that if they were both drones in the Collective. In the Collective their feelings and opinions would have been stripped from them, leaving the thoughts to be shared between them dry and emotionless. This link would be nothing like the one she was familiar with, it would be filled with all types of information the Collective would have deemed 'irrelevant'.

Wiping suddenly sweaty palms on her workout pant's Seven admitted, "I had not considered that factor, the link would be very different from the one I knew as a drone."

B'Elanna noticed the surreptitious movement but it took her a moment to connect the nervous gesture with the normally controlled Seven. 'She's as nervous about this as I am,' realized B'Elanna with surprise.

There was something about the situation they now found themselves in that bothered B'Elanna but she could not pin down what was the discrepancy. Instead staring at her now empty glass she reluctantly suggested, "Let's both sleep on it Annika, maybe it will be less confusing in the morning."

Seven looked momentarily surprised by the use of her name, then she smiled a small but warm smile at B'Elanna and nodded. "Perhaps it will," she allowed and rose from the couch. Before she moved close enough to the door for the sensors to automatically open it for her Seven turned and raising her hand lightly gripped B'Elanna's chin raising the woman's face towards hers. Seven paused and looked questioningly at B'Elanna unwilling to initiate the kiss unless it was agreeable with the half-Klingon.

B'Elanna moistened the surface of her lips with her tongue staring into Seven's eyes and was caught by their darkening blue tone as Seven focused on her action. She swayed toward Seven who correctly interpreted the motion as consent and lowered her lips to B'Elanna's. The two of them kissed slowly, gently and lingeringly, promising to one another through it that they hadn't given up on the idea of physical intimacy.

By the time they broke apart Seven half wished that B'Elanna's Klingon blood would take over and she would continue touching her, Seven suspected she would not even half-heartedly struggle. Unfortunately though B'Elanna was able to push herself back from Seven and said in a ragged voice, "You should probably go to your own quarters now Seven. I can't... I can't stand to have you so close yet not be able to touch you like I want to."

Seven nodded, releasing a breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding, and turned and quickly exited the quarters. She almost bowled over Lt. Paris who had just come up to the door on her way out, surprised she stepped aside quickly barely avoiding a collision. "Lt. Paris, please excuse me," Seven said properly, unaware that her appearance betrayed what had just occurred between her and B'Elanna.

Tom stared at Seven trying to figure out what appeared different about her, her face was flushed for one thing and her lips looked like she had colored them or perhaps they were simply darker than normal. Tom shook his head slightly unwilling to accept what experience was telling him, that he was looking at a woman who had just been thoroughly kissed. "No harm done Seven, having an after workout bloodwine?"

"Yes Lt.," Seven was uneasy under Tom's searching look and she started wondering if the signs of her arousal were as evident to him as they would be to her. After a few seconds of silence Seven stiffened and said coolly, "Good night Lt. Paris."

Tom who was still trying to puzzle out Seven's appearance gave her a fake smile, "Of course Seven."

Seven turned smartly and proceeded down the corridor toward her quarters, leaving an increasingly suspicious Lt. Paris behind. Tom watched as Seven disappeared around the curve of the hallway then requested entry into B'Elanna's quarters.

In a few moments the door opened, "Sev...," B'Elanna's voice initially had a husky timbre to it but trailed off upon seeing Tom, unfortunately not before he had caught the tone and the clear signs of passion on his ex-lover's face.

A sound midway between an astonished laugh and a protest burst from Tom, "I can't believe this, you broke up with me over Seven?!" B'Elanna stiffened and drew herself up straight under Tom's disbelieving look. "Well I guess you've been doing a bit more than just practicing with your Bat'leth in the Holodeck."

"Tom we agreed that it wasn't working out between us, and for your information Seven and I only recently started dating," she paused for emphasis, "after we broke up." B'Elanna's first impulse had been to tell Tom it was none of his business, but concern for Seven made her want to make it clear to Tom that their break up was not Seven's fault. "So what did you want Tom?" B'Elanna finally asked after several moments of silence between them.

Tom stared at her for a moment longer then with a bitter look shrugged, "Nothing, I just dropped by to say hello I guess." With that he turned and proceeded down the hallway toward the turbolift.

B'Elanna stared after him for a moment then stepped back into her quarters and let the doors close upon the corridor. She devoutly hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid that would require her to hurt him; she didn't really want to spend any time in the brig or locked in her quarters.

Seven entered her quarters and glanced at the painting of the Omega molecule trying to calm the rapid beating of her heart, she knew that she could command her nanoprobes to act but she preferred to try and moderate her breathing herself. Seven knew that the end of the relationship between B'Elanna and Lt. Paris was supposed to be a mutual one, but now she wondered. Given the fact that he was, as far as she knew, seeing Ensign Brooks romantically Lt. Paris had seemed rather antagonistic toward her.

The next morning Seven worked a few hours in Astrometrics then met B'Elanna and Ensign Kim in Engineering to finish working on the Jem'Hadar rifle. The three of them broke around 1300 hours for lunch, when they returned to Engineering they worked with renewed interest and finally around 1500 they looked with satisfaction at the completed weapon.

"Go to Security and test it in their weapons range?" asked Harry of the two women.

B'Elanna nodded, "Yea, sorry Harry I was already thinking of how to modify it to make it more reliable."

Harry grinned cheerfully at B'Elanna, "Planning on making a few of these for us? They would need to be modified so they had lower range settings, but the extra power... well I can thing of a few times when I would have liked to have one of these."

"It would be advantageous if we could design a weapon that utilized an improved version of this power cell to produce a phased or tachyon beam depending on the setting," Seven said musingly.

"The weight," started B'Elanna.

"Would be an issue," finished Seven. "I have not thought of a method to reduce the weight of such a weapon sufficiently enough to make it practical for use as a hand weapon." Seven hesitated, and then with a glance at B'Elanna continued, "I was hoping that perhaps either of you might determine a method where I could not."

B'Elanna was shocked to hear Seven openly soliciting their ideas, then she growled silently in annoyance at herself for her surprise. Seven had changed considerably and she had recently considered whether or not that change was due to Seven's death or the changed relationship between them. If she had been treated like she had treated Seven, she wouldn't have been eager to admit failure or ask for help in front of such a person either.

"Between the three of us maybe we can come up with a solution. People working in teams usually progress faster than people working alone," B'Elanna grinned, "an example of the power of collective thought."

Seven's mouth twitched in amusement at B'Elanna's sally. Then an utterly serious expression crossed her face, "I have been considering the differences between this collective and the Borg. Though the Borg are quicker to find a suitable adaptation for an existing system, this collective is capable of generating new ideas and methods, something which the Borg are unable to do."

"The Borg have to assimilate something before they fully understand it, we don't. And because we are individuals we have imagination which allows us to conceive of entirely new ways of dealing with a given situation," said B'Elanna in a carefully neutral tone. She was fully aware of the fact that this was a new way of thinking for Seven, usually Seven assumed that the Borg were superior to those aboard Voyager, being unable or unwilling to see that the Borg had some severe limitations placed upon them due to the nature of the hive mind.

"I wonder what the Borg could achieve if they were more like the Bynars," mused Harry.

"The Bynar are an organic-cybernetic species originating in the Alpha Quadrant on the planet Bynaus. They are all linked to each other though a central computer system on their home planet but retain their ability to think individually," Seven said, obviously reciting from memory.

"Exactly," said Harry.

"Exactly what Ensign?" asked Seven with a raised brow.

"The Bynar's prove that it can be done, that you can link large groups of people into a communications network without causing them to loose their individuality," said Harry.

Looking thoughtful Seven nodded.

After they had test fired the weapon thoroughly and Harry left Engineering to return to his station on the bridge B'Elanna turned to Seven after glancing around to make sure no one was in hearing range. "I've managed to get the Holodeck tonight for two hours, would you like to have dinner with me."

Seven who was currently standing by one of the wall consoles glanced over at her and smiled warmly, "I would be pleased to have dinner with you B'Elanna."

"Holodeck 1 1900 hours, wear casual clothing," said B'Elanna.

Seven glanced at her curiously wondering where B'Elanna planned on taking her, and why type of food they would be eating. "Temperate climate?" she asked, after their first date she had promised herself that she would choose clothing different from those she usually wore.

B'Elanna tilted her head slightly and smiled at Seven wondering why she had asked the question, "Warm climate."

Seven nodded sorting through the clothing choices she remembered from the replicator patterns and tentatively choose a tight fitting sleeveless blouse and dress pants. Alpha shift was over and Seven finished up the work she was doing and turned fully toward B'Elanna. "I meet you at your quarters at 1850 hours."

"I look forward to seeing you then," B'Elanna said, now intensely curious about what Seven was thinking.

Once in her quarters Seven showered and went to stand in front of the replicator looking through the clothing patterns. She found the blouse and pants she had considered and replicated them. The blouse had a silk like feel to it and she had chosen a medium blue for the fabric, the pants where of black material. For shoes she simply wore her uniform boots.

Considering herself in the mirror she chose to let her hair hang loose about her face, she had noticed that B'Elanna seemed to like it that way. It was now 1840 hours, time for her to meet B'Elanna for their second date.


	4. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 4

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 4**

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f situations between women.

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 12/02/04

Summary: Second dinner date, discussion of Warhead events.

* * *

When the door opened B'Elanna looked at Seven in appreciation, the simple all white outfit contrasted nicely with the tan she had gotten from the special lights B'Elanna had installed over her bed, and made the blue of her eyes more noticeable. "You look wonderful Annika," B'Elanna said in approval.

Seven smiled, pleased that her choice of clothes had the desired effect, "Thank you, B'Elanna."

"Shall we go?" B'Elanna asked.

Seven nodded and the two of them proceeded to the Holodeck. B'Elanna typed in some commands and indicated that Seven should precede her. When the doors opened they stepped into an arid desert landscape, a small whitewashed and red clay roofed adobe building was located directly in front of them.

"I know it's not as scenic as the place you choose but I programmed this by myself; it's a little place I know of from my time at the Academy." B'Elanna paused for a moment looking around, "It's a place in southern California, a little mom and pop Mexican restaurant called The Good Burrito."

Seven looked at her puzzled by the description of the restaurant, "Mom and pop?"

B'Elanna nodded, "Term for a company run by a family, in the case of restaurants it usually means that the food, while it may not be very fancy, will usually be very good. Which is the case here, lets go in."

The interior of the restaurant was a blend of colorful floor tiles done in a mosaic of blue and green, round tables covered with white table cloths, yellow lacquered chairs and whitewashed walls covered with paintings that were hung close to one another. Seven stopped for a moment in the doorway, taken aback at the cacophony of colors and multitude of paintings that greeted her.

B'Elanna turned to see why she had paused and said defensively, "I know it's… different from what you're used to but you will get accustomed to the colors."

Seven's eyes jerked from their investigation of the multitude of paintings to B'Elanna's face, "I am sure I will. I was just examining the paintings." She indicated the walls around them, "There are a number of them to inspect."

"I couldn't remember much about them, only that there were a lot so I had the computer randomly pick painters of the right style and kept adding in paintings until it looked right," B'Elanna said looking around the room. "I asked one of the owners about them when I came here for the first time when I was at the academy, and she said that she bought them from the students at a local art college and wanted to display them all. She was worried that she would run out of wall space soon and might have to take some of the older one's down."

"Ah Paedro our guests for the evening have arrived!" exclaimed an older woman who had just appeared from the back of the restaurant. "As arranged the entire restaurant has been reserved just for you this evening," she said beaming at B'Elanna.

"Gracias Senora Mantego," replied B'Elanna.

"DeNada," the woman replied dismissively, but Seven could see the pleased look on her face, "And please call me Maria." She indicated the empty restaurant with a wave of her hand, "Please choose where you want to sit and I will get menus for you."

B'Elanna indicated one of the tables in the middle of the restaurant and gave Seven an inquisitive look, "Would this be ok Annika?"

Seven, who had been examining one of the paintings on the wall from a distance as B'Elanna had talked to the woman, quickly glanced at where B'Elanna was pointing and stifling a sense of disappointment that they would not be seated next to a wall nodded. B'Elanna stared at Seven for a moment with her head cocked to the side while Seven fidgeted slightly under the penetrating look.

"I never knew you liked art, well except for the painting of the Omega molecule," said B'Elanna, then turning to Maria she said, "We will sit by one of the walls so Annika can admire the paintings you have collected Maria."

Seven blushed slightly as she felt she should be concentrating on B'Elanna instead of the holo-program but was pleased that B'Elanna was facilitating her curiosity about the paintings the computer had chosen.

"Which one were you looking at Annika?" asked B'Elanna curiously, as she examined the area of the wall she thought Seven had been examining.

Seven walked over to a particular painting and B'Elanna followed, "This one." Seven indicated a painting of a nude woman with her back to the painter kneeling in front of a basket filled with impossibly large white flowers.

"Nude with Calla Lilies by Diego Rivera," B'Elanna leaned in to read the information tucked into a corner of the frame. "I doubt this is actually on the restaurant walls."

"What is the cultural significance of these flowers?" Seven asked B'Elanna looking around her. "They are depicted in several of the paintings."

B'Elanna looked at the white flower for a moment then had to admit, "I have no idea, they are in quite a few of them though, aren't they." She paused for a moment then turned to Maria who had been patiently waiting and looking pleased that they were admiring the paintings. "Maria do you know what the significance of the white flower in this painting is?"

"Claro, that is the calla lily often used in weddings because it symbolizes both beauty and innocence," Maria said.

B'Elanna glanced at Seven dressed all in white, her hair gleaming golden under the lights of the restaurant. She was still examining the painting and B'Elanna was struck by how much Seven resembled the calla lily she was looking at, 'and not just physically' she thought to herself.

"Gracias," replied B'Elanna somewhat absently to Maria and then to Seven she said pointing to a table near the wall, "Will this do Annika?"

Seven nodded to B'Elanna and went to sit down at the indicated table. After they were both seated B'Elanna said, "I only remembered the one beverage I had here, a light beer that went well with the food, I think you would like it. And I would suggest having the sampler platter; it's a small serving of several different types of Mexican foods."

Seven eyed her curiously for a moment then nodded, "Acceptable, it seems an efficient manner in which to experience the cuisine."

"It is, I had it the first time I came here and it's been my favorite choice every time since." B'Elanna turned from Seven and directed her attention to Maria, "Maria we will have two of the house beers and two sampler platters."

Maria beamed at them, "I will return with your beers shortly." She left heading towards the bar and bellowed, "Pedro! Two sampler platters for our guests."

Dimly from the back came the reply, "Si, two sampler platters."

B'Elanna, her mind turning to the concerns of the day said "I've been looking at the sensor logs and Doc's readings of the damage to your systems and I believe I know how the sentient bomb created the feedback surge that hurt you Annika," said B'Elanna with an angry flexing of her jaw.

Seven who had turned to watch Maria, turned back to B'Elanna when she said this, "The weapon used a variation of the same method it used to destroy the trader's ship?" She asked curiously.

They had been working, both separately and together, trying to figure out exactly how the sentient weapon had destroyed the trader ship by sending a feedback surge through its transporter system and how it had incapacitated Seven when she attempted to interface with its command circuits. Now B'Elanna confirmed what they had suspected from their initial look at the data, "Yes it looks like basically the same type of response. Now to figure out if we can defend against it." B'Elanna looked soberly at Seven, "I want to develop a way to prevent or mitigate the effects of such an attack for both you and Voyager."

Seven quirked her brow at this and smirked slightly, "Agreed."

B'Elanna chuckled at Seven's comment, then more seriously commented "I don't want to see you helpless like that again." B'Elanna watched as Seven's face softened in response then glanced up and smiled at Maria as she returned with their beers and placed them in front of the two women.

As B'Elanna watched amused, Seven took a cautious sip of the light amber beverage and then with a surprised look said, "It is pleasant tasting."

Maria humphed, "Of course it is I brew it myself from an old family recipe. Amber, Carapilis and Crystal malts and Saaz hops."

B'Elanna and Seven regarded her blankly for a moment then glanced at each other in confusion.

"It tastes just as good as it always does," B'Elanna finally said in reply.

Maria beamed at B'Elanna in response and then bustled off towards the kitchen.

"Anyway," B'Elanna said after a final inquisitive look at her beer. "I don't see how we can really improve on your system's response. I mean we can't make your exoskeleton not conduct the feedback, its metal. Pretty much the only thing you can do to stop feedback once it's started is to install break points, and that's how you responded. We need to figure out a way to prevent the feedback from entering your system in the first place."

They both pondered the issue for a few moments silently, then finally Seven spoke up, "Unless we introduce an intermediary system between my implants and the system generating the feedback I see no way to prevent it."

"Which means we need to develop a system that duplicates the ability of your… well they used to be assimilation tubules but they aren't now… are they?" asked B'Elanna.

"I would have to consciously modify my nanoprobes to assimilate someone," Seven said with an expression of extreme distaste. "Perhaps interface tubules would be a more accurate term."

B'Elanna frowned, "Would any intermediary system have to deliver nanoprobes?"

"Not necessarily. For data gathering and interaction with another system, no, I do not need to deliver nanoprobes to accomplish that task. I use nanoprobes to change or modify existing systems," Seven answered.

B'Elanna frowned absently as she stared off into space, "So really what we need is a direct data connection that can interface with your exoskeleton." B'Elanna paused for a small while then continued, "Since we are talking about making something that would fit over your hand why not add it into the modifications we are planning for the ATIA." B'Elanna grinned as she spelled out the acronym.

Seven raised a questioning eyebrow.

"If we are completely redesigning the Stealth Combat Suit it deserves a new name," said B'Elanna.

"Advanced Tactical Infiltrator Armor?" guessed Seven after a few moments.

B'Elanna looked at Seven surprised, "How did you guess?"

"After running through some of the possible permutations that seemed the likely choice," answered Seven with a smile. "It is a suitable choice for a name."

"Does that translate into, 'I like it?'"

"Yes B'Elanna, I like it," said Seven.

Maria walked out of the kitchen just then bearing a tray with two large platters heaped with an assortment of enchiladas, burritos, tacos, flautas, and taquitos. Beans and rice and sweet soft corn cake were placed in bowls on the side. After she had served the food Maria inquired if there was anything else they needed, and after being assured that there was not she left them alone again.

Seven stared wide eyed at the platter of food in front of her and then with curiosity at B'Elanna who had started chuckling.

"I'm sorry Annika, it's just the look on your face… you don't have to eat everything, just try one of every type and eat seconds of what you like. I'm certainly not planning on finishing everything on this plate!" B'Elanna waved her hand at the heaping platter for emphasis.

"I will proceed as you have suggested," said Seven with relief apparent in her voice. She picked up a taquito and gingerly bit into one end as B'Elanna watched. Regarding it curiously as she chewed, Seven waited until she had finished to comment, "Intriguing combination of flavors and textures between the crispness of the corn shell and the finely ground and spiced meat."

"I told you the food was good here," B'Elanna said smugly as she dug into her own food with enjoyment. B'Elanna found herself fascinated with watching the looks of surprise and pleasure that crossed Seven's face as she tried the various types of food on her plate, and congratulated herself with her choice of dinner locations.

Once her initial hunger had been sated, Seven started up the earlier conversation again. "You wish to design interrupt points in certain systems to prevent a feedback cascade failure of Voyager's systems?"

B'Elanna nodded thoughtfully, "At least for critical areas where it could severely damage or destroy the ship. We need to look at the transporter and tractor beam systems to see how we can prevent that specific type of attack. Then maybe consider what other systems might be vulnerable."

"The existing feedback control system diverts feedback into an energy absorbing device, however, it can be easily overwhelmed," said Seven. "The Borg had recently assimilated information about a superior energy absorbing material when I was last in contact with them. I believe we can synthesize this material and use it in our own systems, it should have four times the energy absorbing capacity of the current composite material being used."

"Four times?" said B'Elanna in surprise, "How did they manage that?"

"We will have to first duplicate the replication system species 2678 used to make the material. It requires a specific molecular matrix which was achieved by the use of a specialized replicator using that specific matrix instead of a standard general use molecular matrix," answered Seven.

B'Elanna absorbed the information then replied, "This molecular matrix pattern duplicates specific molecular energy states?"

Seven nodded, "Specific molecular energy states are required for maximum energy absorption."

"That's definitely not obtainable with a standard replicator," said B'Elanna. "I'd be surprised if the Captain says no to this when we submit a proposal since the energy absorption gain is so high."

They continued their engineering discussion through the rest of the meal, hammering out specifics and coming to an agreement about the engineering proposal they would present to Captain Janeway. Both of them looked up surprised when the computer announced the standard five-minute warning.

"Already?" B'Elanna asked in surprise. Then to Seven, "We still need to decide a few things, my quarter's or yours?"

"Mine," said Seven. "Captain Janeway sent over a reading list this afternoon, I believe we are supposed to study the first two chapters of 'An Introduction to Command Philosophy' this evening as well."

B'Elanna's eyes glazed over, "Sounds like a good way to send myself to sleep. Where are we supposed to come up with the time to do all this?" she said in frustration.

Seven's face fell a little at this and she said stiffly, "You do not have to do the command training B'Elanna; I understand it is more difficult for you with your duties as Chief Engineer."

B'Elanna looked at Seven confused for a moment, then her face cleared, "Annika you have to learn to not take my complaining so seriously. I'll find the time to study because M'ara said it would help you… help us to succeed." B'Elanna paused then musingly said, "That's one thing that would probably be solved by you knowing my thoughts."

Seven's face had cleared at B'Elanna's first two sentences and B'Elanna's last comment drew an amused look and a raised brow from her but she did not choose to comment on the statement.

The computer chimed a one-minute warning at them, B'Elanna exited the program, and the two women left the Holodeck for Seven's quarters.

They went to Seven's quarters and spent another hour hammering out and writing the engineering proposal they would present at the morning's briefing. Once that was completed, they went over and discussed the Captain's reading assignment.

"As goes the Captain, so goes the ship," commented B'Elanna thoughtfully when she finished.

Seven looked at her inquiringly.

"The results of lead by example," said B'Elanna. "It's an old statement that expresses that the ship will reflect the ethics, personality and leadership style of its Captain."

"Though I have disagreed with her decisions occasionally, overall her decisions follow Starfleet guidelines and values." Seven paused thoughtfully, "There have been notable exceptions, her decision to ally with the Borg being one of them."

"Yea, I don't know what Starfleet will think of that. However, Species 8472 was threatening to kill all life forms in our galaxy. And besides it had its upside," said B'Elanna with a warm look at Seven.

Seven's cheeks picked up the slightest bit of color at this statement and a brief smile crossed her lips. "I am thankful she made that decision as well." Seven glanced at the chronometer and realized with regret how late it was getting. "We should stop studying and begin sleeping if we are to be prepared for tomorrow," Seven said with a sharp pang at the thought she would be sleeping alone once again instead of with the woman sitting across from her.

B'Elanna frowned, and then sighed deeply looking resigned, "Yea I should get back to my quarters." Her eyes flickered up to meet Seven's who could see her clench her fists for a moment when their eyes met. Seven was not certain what this meant until B'Elanna admitted, "It gets harder every time to leave you and go sleep alone. But I don't think we should be intimate until we are absolutely sure it's what we want." B'Elanna paused for a moment, "I'm not sure why M'ara would make me like you, but I trust her, there has to be a good reason for it."

Seven nodded her face serious. "Can I kiss you 'good night' B'Elanna?" she said after a moment, looking wistfully at the other woman.

"I'd be unhappy if you didn't," replied B'Elanna with a relieved sounding sigh.

Seven crossed the room with three quick strides and cupped B'Elanna's face with her hands, bent and captured B'Elanna's lips with her own. Almost immediately the kiss deepened, mouths opening to let tongues touch, and both women groaned nearly in unison at the sensation. They kissed for several moments, then almost without thought, Seven slid her lips across to B'Elanna's cheek and opening her mouth gently raked her teeth across the other woman's cheek where months before the son of K'vok had bit her.

"Annika," growled B'Elanna, reacting to the almost mating bite.

Seven suddenly realizing what she was doing, jerked back from B'Elanna. "I… I…," Seven stammered, "I am sorry B'Elanna, I should not have done that."

"Don't apologize for wanting me, unless you didn't mean it," B'Elanna said in a voice that still held overtones of a growl.

"Then I don't apologize," said Seven in a low voice, looking directly at B'Elanna out of eyes that had darkened to stormy blue.

"You're not afraid to lose the privacy of your own mind anymore?" asked B'Elanna with what appeared to be a nervous moistening of her lips.

"Not to you," replied Seven with a grave, yet tender look.

"Annika," said B'Elanna in an obviously distressed tone, then she stopped apparently unable to say the rest of her sentence.

"You are still uncertain," Seven said gently and trailed a reassuring hand down the side of B'Elanna's face, trying to reassure B'Elanna that she was not upset.

B'Elanna leaned into the caress and sighed, "My actions still bother me, Annika. I know you've forgiven me for how I treated you in the past, but as we get closer it bothers me more that I ever did some of those things." B'Elanna pulled away from Seven and began pacing, "I mean I was called names when I was a kid, I can't believe I turned around and did the same thing to you. I always thought I was an honorable person, but now I wonder."

"B'Elanna," Seven said then stopped. Seven looked briefly frustrated then followed the pacing half-Klingon woman and snagged her in an embrace from behind. "I do not hold the past against you, but you must let it go as well. If you do not think you acted honorably in the past then decide to not repeat those actions."

B'Elanna snorted, "That would seem to be the logical answer wouldn't it." Her voice was hard but she leaned into Seven's embrace instead of struggling against it. After a few moments she said in a more normal tone, "I just can't seem to stop thinking about the things I said to you, the fact that I assumed you had gone back to the Borg willingly when the Queen threatened to assimilate Voyager if you didn't permit yourself to be taken on that away mission. I broke into your personal logs did Janeway tell you that? And when she confronted me about it all I said was that you were obviously never a part of this crew. How could I have been so blind about you?"

"Kathryn informed me a week after I had returned, I am glad that the designs in them helped you adapt Voyager so you could use the transwarp coils. If you had not done that I might be a drone now," replied Seven thoughtfully.

B'Elanna pulled away from Seven far enough to turn around in her arms and look up at her confused, "I thought she wanted you to keep your individuality?"

Seven nodded, "However, I was not cooperating as she wished and refused to assist her willingly with programming the nanovirus to assimilate humanity, the price of my refusal was to help her as a drone. If Captain Janeway had not contacted me at that time, I am certain I would have been re-assimilated."

Seven's voice was level but B'Elanna had grown sensitive to the minute expressions that told volumes about Seven's emotions. Now she recognized from the tenseness around Seven's mouth and eyes how disturbed she was just from relating the experience. It wasn't necessary to say that Janeway would have probably failed in the attempt to rescue Seven if she had been assimilated.

"I'm glad Janeway decided to go after you," said B'Elanna. "If it hadn't been for her instincts about you, the rest of us would have never realized what you did for us."

Seven sighed at this comment, then with a wry smile said, "Perhaps you knowing my thoughts would help you realize that you do not need to continue punishing yourself over past events."

A short bark of laughter greeted this effort, "You would learn to not take me so seriously and I would quit feeling so guilty. Perhaps that's why M'ara is enabling us to hear each other's thoughts."

"Perhaps," agreed Seven softly. Seven pulled B'Elanna closer and sighed in pleasure at the full body contact. "Stay tonight, I believe I will sleep better when you are next to me than I will wishing you were. And I will not kiss you in the morning," Seven said referring to the previous time they had slept together.

B'Elanna wavered uncertainly, though she had to smile at the comment, and the pleading look in Seven's eyes persuaded her, "Ok."

Seven replicated sleeping clothes in red and blue, just as they had slept in before. "I will go and change in the bathing room," Seven said to B'Elanna.

"I'll change in here," said B'Elanna with a slight smile, remembering when she had changed in front of Seven the time before.

After B'Elanna changed she slipped into Seven's bed and stared up at the lights on the ceiling noting that Seven was giving her plenty of time to change. Finally the lanky blonde entered the bedroom and slipped into the other side of the bed. Seven turned onto her side and looked uncertainly at B'Elanna, not sure if she should try and hold her. B'Elanna settled the issue by turning over and scooting backward until she rested in Seven's arms.

With a satisfied sigh, Seven wrapped her arms around B'Elanna and nuzzled her hair, breathing the scent of B'Elanna deeply. Within moments Seven's eyelashes fluttered and with her face buried in B'Elanna's hair she fell asleep.

B'Elanna did not fare so well, wrestling with both her desire and fear for another hour or so before she finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

B'Elanna looked around herself in confusion; she was no longer sleeping in Seven's bed but seemed to be in some type of chamber aboard a Borg cube. Drones in regeneration alcoves stood peacefully around her. Looking out the chamber, she saw Seven kneeling in front of some type of access panel.

B'Elanna breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward only to wince back from a force field at the entrance. "Seven," she said loudly. Seven did not turn or even seem to hear her. "Annika!" B'Elanna said more loudly. Still Seven did not seem to hear her. A drone walking by the open door paused for a moment then turned and looked directly at Seven.

It started walking toward her obviously noticing what she was doing, "Seven!" B'Elanna shouted now not caring if the drones in the room noticed she was there or not. Still Seven did not turn, nor did she notice the drone approaching her. "Seven!" B'Elanna screamed and threw herself against the force field, frantic now to warn the other woman.

"No!" B'Elanna howled in despair as the drone pulled Seven up from where she was crouched; and in one smooth motion drove its assimilation tubules into her throat. Finally, Seven seemed to notice B'Elanna and her eyes stared despairingly into B'Elanna's seeming to ask why she hadn't warned her before they blanked over and her skin mottled.


	5. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 5

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 5**

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f intimate scenes between women.

Rating: R

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 12/02/04; 12/06/04

Summary: Events following B'Elanna's dream

B'Elanna sat up in bed staring about her, her hearts pounding rapidly. "B'Elanna?" the sleepy sound of Seven's voice came from beside her and Seven's arm wrapped around her waist. "What is wrong?" came the more alert sounding question as Seven woke more fully and realized how agitated the other woman was.

"I had a nightmare," B'Elanna replied looking with relief at the woman beside her whose normal skin tone reassured her that it had just been a dream.

A hand came up and gently cupped her face. B'Elanna reached up and held it with her own, turning it so the wrist was upright and lowering her face to inhale the scent there deeply. Reassured by the scent B'Elanna grazed her teeth over the delicate skin tasting the unique combination of fragrances and flavors that were Annika.

"B'Elanna?" came the questioning whisper, then "Lights 20."The lights brightened just enough for the two women to see each other clearly.

"reH bang larghlu" said B'Elanna in a low intent voice, her eyes dilated and fixed on Seven's face.

B'Elanna heard Seven's breath catch as she realized that B'Elanna had said 'love is first smelled.' The half Klingon could clearly hear Seven's heart rate speed up and felt the increased flutter of Seven's pulse under her lips which still rested lightly against Seven's wrist.

Seven awkwardly pulled herself upright without pulling her hand from B'Elanna's grip and stared intently into her face. "You are no longer uncertain," Seven stated.

"No, I understand now why we must be able to communicate mind to mind. I don't know if the dream was sent by M'ara or whether it was my subconscious making the connections, but in the dream you were assimilated because I couldn't warn you. We were on a Borg cube and I was separated from you by this force field and you couldn't hear me no matter how loudly I yelled," B'Elanna's eyes grew haunted as she remembered the last betrayed look the dream Seven had given her.

B'Elanna continued in a sure voice, "I won't let that happen, I'm certain we will need that connection in order to succeed. I'm not going to let my fears hurt you… and besides I really want to make love to you," she admitted in a husky low toned voice.

"It was only a dream B'Elanna, I was not there," Seven reassured her. "I do not want you to make this decision based upon the fear of what might happen. I do not believe that will make a good basis for a relationship." This last was said with concern evident in the tone of Seven's voice.

"It's not that, remember when I said that something was bothering me about what M'ara had told us, that I felt there was something I wasn't understanding?" asked B'Elanna earnestly.

"Yes," answered Seven with a nod and an intent look.

"This is it, I knew she wasn't doing it just to stop us from being together, I knew there was another reason. This is it, being able to speak to one another mind to mind will be an incredible advantage, and I think it will be critical to our succeeding in whatever this task is." B'Elanna paused, "It's enough for me to feel certain about this, I'm no longer afraid to have you in here," B'Elanna pointed to her head.

At Seven's continuing uncertain look B'Elanna questioned, "Have you changed your mind?"

"No!" Seven replied with certainty.

"Do you want to be my mate?" asked B'Elanna.

"Yes," Seven replied simply.

Seconds later B'Elanna detected an increased musky undertone to Seven's scent that drove an involuntary growl of desire from her. "Seven," she said in a slightly desperate tone, staring into eyes that had darkened to a stormy blue, concerned that Seven might not be prepared for her to be as Klingon as she knew she would be.

"You will not hurt me B'Elanna," Seven reassured her, correctly interpreting her sudden concern. When she still looked uncertain Seven twisted her hand under B'Elanna's light grasp and pulled the darker woman toward her. She could see the surprised look in brown eyes just before she took B'Elanna's chin in her hand and pulled her caramel toned face toward her. She lowered her face to B'Elanna's now exposed neck and opening her mouth slightly raked with tongue and teeth from just below the ear downward, growling deeply as she did so.

A responding growl from B'Elanna let Seven know she was arousing the other woman with her actions. When Seven pulled back for a moment B'Elanna's eyes drifted shut and she was breathing deeply. Looking at the willingly exposed cheek Seven knew that her next action would seal what would follow for the rest of their lives. She had done this once under the influence of another personality and had always regretted that she could not remember it, this time though she would.

With carefully calculated pressure Seven quickly made the mating bite, just deep enough to break the warm caramel skin and bring up the slightest amount of blood. With the hormones currently raging in B'Elanna's blood, Seven knew this would not feel painful to her. Finishing the ritual Seven ran her tongue over the newly made marks, listening to the aroused tone in B'Elanna's growl as she did so and said, "I have tasted your blood, and it is sweet."

Just then Seven's exoskeleton made the change from silver to blood red, the scent of Seven's blood in the air drove a strangled sounding "Annika," from B'Elanna. B'Elanna roughly pulled herself from Seven's grip and turned to face her, eyes fully dilated in arousal stared at Seven.

Seven returned the look in full measure and lifted her chin defiantly, daring the other woman to prove she was strong enough to take her. This action drew another growl from B'Elanna and the not unexpected action of gripping Seven's chin and forcefully turning her face to expose the side of her face and neck. Seven was careful to resist the pressure enough to satisfy the demands of the dance they were playing out, yet not enough that her enhanced strength would stop B'Elanna from actually being able to turn her head.

Seven had already instructed her nanoprobes to duplicate the effect increased hormones were producing in the half Klingon, the bite she was about to receive would not be painful but pleasurable. Knowing this she enjoyed fully the feel of B'Elanna's mouth trailing down her neck and in pleasurable anticipation waited for what would follow. When B'Elanna's teeth broke her skin and then her tongue ran over the marks Seven groaned aloud at the rush of pleasure that followed.

"I have tasted you, and your blood is sweet," B'Elanna finished the ritual. B'Elanna pulled away and looked at Seven, "Your exoskeleton," she said hoarsely.

"I did not consciously choose to change it," said Seven. "It seems appropriate though," she admitted.

"Very," agreed B'Elanna then pulled the blond woman toward her and kissed her deeply. When B'Elanna pulled back she looked intently into Seven's face and satisfied with what she saw there moved to straddle Seven's legs. B'Elanna hesitated and then looked directly into Seven's eyes and in a husky voice that left no doubt as to the depth of her desire, "I want to see you."

Seven raised her arms in reply and B'Elanna reached down, pulled the silky blue top upward and off, then paused and stared as if mesmerized at what was now revealed to her. "So beautiful," she said after a moment and more gently reached out to cup Seven's shoulders and pushed her backward until she was lying prone on the bed.

B'Elanna's eyes traced the flowing lines of Seven's exoskeleton and the full curves of her breasts then she let her fingers trace the same path. When Seven gasped and arched in response under her at B'Elanna's touch on her exoskeleton B'Elanna realized how sensitive it was with a smile. Taking intense satisfaction in every gasp, every reflexive arch, every suddenly indrawn breath Seven made, B'Elanna delicately traced her way along the interweaving banding until she was stroking the delicate skin of Seven's breasts.

Seven made a desperate sound at the continuing maddeningly light touch on the sides of her breasts and looked pleadingly at B'Elanna. The darker woman growled, bent and took the peak of one breast into her mouth. A strangled moan erupted from Seven at the intensity of the contact and she bucked her hips into B'Elanna who was straddling her.

A possessive growl and increased downward pressure to hold her in place was B'Elanna's initial response, the grasping of her hands and sudden move to pin them to the bed was B'Elanna's second. B'Elanna continued her attentions to Seven's breast, enjoying the reactions they produced from Seven.

Satisfied that she had paid enough attention to the one breast B'Elanna switched to the other and enjoyed the strangled "Yes," this action evoked from Seven. B'Elanna was determined to drive Seven to the point where the Borg in her would quit analyzing things and the woman could only react to what she was doing to her. To this end B'Elanna was determined to control her Klingon desire to immediately claim Seven and take all the time needed to reduce Seven to a point where she would stop thinking about what was happening to her and just experience it.

After several minutes of this B'Elanna alternated it with gently raking her teeth along the sides of Seven's breasts being careful not to hurt her, during all this the woman's responses grew less and less restrained. Finally B'Elanna moved to the exoskeleton bands on Seven's stomach and began exploring them with her tongue, inhaling deeply the slight blood scent they exuded.

It was then that she realized how sensitive the bands were, she knew Seven had control over how much feeling she had through them and it was obvious from Seven's reaction that they were currently much more sensitive than her skin. When Seven's writhing grew more desperate and her breathing irregular, B'Elanna judged that Seven had finally stopped thinking about what she was feeling and was fully experiencing it.

B'Elanna groaned; pulled Seven's pants over her hips, down her legs and threw them to the floor. She paused a moment and took in the full body view of her lover before quickly stripping off her own clothes and returning to Seven. B'Elanna lightly traced the intertwining lines of banding down Seven's sides and followed it over the front of her hips and down the front of her legs.

Later…

B'Elanna straightened and moved up along Seven's body to look into the fully relaxed face, 'very relaxed' thought B'Elanna as she noted that her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping. 'Oh yea,' thought B'Elanna cockily as she realized that Seven was not entirely conscious at the moment. 'Mine,' she said to herself feeling a rush of intense emotion for the woman beside her.

A moment later Seven's eyes fluttered open and she swallowed abruptly and turned her head toward B'Elanna. Seven looked wonderingly at B'Elanna, "B'Elanna…," Seven stopped apparently at a loss for words.

"More than you expected?" asked B'Elanna and smiled pleased at Sevens wordless acknowledging nod. B'Elanna raised a hand to gently touch Seven's cheek where she had bitten her. "It didn't hurt?"

"No, did I hurt you?" asked Seven.

"No, it didn't hurt at all," B'Elanna assured her. Noting how her face had a soft, vulnerable appearance to it, B'Elanna moved up the bed and opened her arm's invitingly. Seven quickly accepted and laid her head down on B'Elanna's chest and threw an arm and leg over her, snuggling up as close as she could possibly get.

B'Elanna bent her head, took in a long deep breath of her lover's scent and wrapped her arms protectively around Seven. Running a soothing hand up and down Seven's back B'Elanna was not surprised when Seven fell asleep quickly. 'Good timing,' B'Elanna thought to herself just before she drifted off, 'We both have today off.'

When she awoke to gentle kisses and nibbles along her jaw line, B'Elanna realized that Seven was straddling her and had her hands pinned to the bed. Noting that she was awake Seven gently licked the now healed mating bite on her cheek and then moved down to rake her teeth down the side of her neck Seven was not surprised to hear an aroused growl from B'Elanna in response.

Seven was determined to perform well at making love to the caramel skinned woman. Having B'Elanna make love to her had been much more of an intense experience than she had imagined in her dreams, and she desperately wanted to do the same for B'Elanna. Seven had read about how physical intimacy could be an expression of love, but she hadn't realized how intensely it would affect her feelings for B'Elanna. Right now she wanted to surround B'Elanna, touch her intimately everywhere, claim her, possess her, and most of all feel her come and cry out because of what she was doing to her.

Seven was however, uncertain how to proceed; B'Elanna had been much more tender and gentle with her than her research indicated Klingon's usually were; she wasn't certain whether it was due to B'Elanna being half-human or due to the fact that Seven was human. She decided to follow B'Elanna's lead from when she had made love to her. She would be dominant but gentle and see if that was pleasing to B'Elanna.

Thus, when B'Elanna tested the grip she had on her wrists Seven did not let her even move her hands the slightest amount. Glancing at the caramel toned face Seven verified that she was not distressed and was reassured by the aroused look in B'Elanna's eyes and the scent she was giving off. Seven lowered her lips to B'Elanna's and nipped gently at the lower one, when B'Elanna parted her lips she deepened the kiss, running her tongue over B'Elanna's teeth the way she knew the other woman liked.

"You are my mate," Seven informed B'Elanna boldly when she pulled away and received only a challenging look in reply.

Seven took up the challenge willingly, biting B'Elanna with gentle firmness at the juncture of her shoulder and neck. When she moaned in response and bucked underneath her Seven widened the distance between her knees on the bed and pressed more firmly down across B'Elanna's hips, holding her in place.

Seven wasn't certain if B'Elanna would respond to this in a Klingon fashion or not, but when B'Elanna twisted and bucked again Seven knew that at least in this she was following her Klingon instincts and challenging Seven's dominance of her. She knew that B'Elanna would continue to test her until she was satisfied that Seven would be a suitable mate whereupon she would submit to Seven's touch.

Seven's mouth wandered down over B'Elanna's chest, marveling at the soft smooth caramel colored skin under her lips. With reverence she let her lips explore the rising line of one breast until she reached the top. Seven listened with satisfaction to the rather loud growl moan that B'Elanna made in response to this.

Later….

Seven finally rolled over, pulling B'Elanna with her until their positions were reversed and B'Elanna was resting on top of her. Holding her tightly Seven realized she did not want to let go, part of her fought against the need she had for B'Elanna, but a much greater part of her accepted and welcomed it. Slowly she loosened her arms and pulled back enough to look into B'Elanna's face.

They had discussed whether or not they were falling in love just before M'ara told them what would happen the first time they were intimate. Now looking into eyes that held as much wonder as hers Seven knew there was no place she would rather be but in B'Elanna's arms. She felt warm, protected, cared for as well as contented, peaceful and yet excited in a way. So many emotions, yet they did not feel chaotic but harmonious. The last time she had felt so many emotions that were harmonious in their totality was when she looked at the Omega molecule.

Seven had known then that she was experiencing a moment of perfection, now she knew she was experiencing another. "I love you," she whispered to B'Elanna.

B'Elanna's eyes widened and brightened and she smiled beautifully, pulling herself up along Seven she kissed her. "I love you too," B'Elanna whispered back when the kiss finally ended. "Take the Oath with me?"

Seven searched B'Elanna's face looking for any sign of doubt but could find none. "Yes," she replied simply.

B'Elanna reached up and traced the now healed marks on Seven's cheek, somewhat surprised they were still there. "jiH dok," B'Elanna said looking into Seven's eyes.

"maj dok," Seven completed as she touched the marks on B'Elanna's face as well.

B'Elanna grinned, "I should have asked if you knew the Oath but somehow I thought you would."

Seven flushed slightly, "I studied the Oath along with the information about Klingon mating practices."

B'Elanna considered this information, "Were you thinking of exchanging it with me before today?"

"Ever since the Captain walked in on us after the end of our first date I have been considering whether or not I would wish to make the Oath with you," admitted Seven.

B'Elanna's eyes widened, then an unmistakable look of pride crossed her face, "I kissed that good did I," B'Elanna grinned at Seven.

Seven quirked an eyebrow at this reaction and a look of amusement crossed her face, "That did factor into my deliberations," Seven acknowledged.

Just then B'Elanna's stomachs rumbled loudly interrupting their conversation. "I agree," said Seven, "It is time to eat, I am quite hungry as well."

B'Elanna reluctantly rolled off Seven and the two of them got up, ate and showered. By the time they were done, both of them admitted to being tired, though it was morning. Crawling back into bed they curled up against one another and fell asleep with B'Elanna resting on Seven's chest.

Several hours later they awoke again. Seven, feeling B'Elanna stretch against her, enjoyed the feel of heated bared skin against her own and to her surprise found herself wanting to make love to B'Elanna once again. Wrapping her arms around the other woman she rolled over and reversed their positions with an aroused growl, taking B'Elanna by surprise. Seven captured B'Elanna's lips with her own and claimed them kissing her with all the rising passion she was feeling.

She was trailing her mouth across B'Elanna's cheek where the mating marks had been when she felt an odd texture underneath her mouth just as a strangled sounding moan erupted from B'Elanna.

"Kahless, that felt good," gasped B'Elanna and then reached up and felt her own cheek. "What?" she said in surprise.

Confused Seven pulled back and looked at where she had been kissing. Radiating outward from the center of the mating bite were angular shaped exoskeleton bands. They were black in color with gold borders and red highlights forming a pattern on top of the lacquered looking black. Other bands at the perimeter of the spiral traced where the mating bite had been made and then marched in a pattern up to the corner of B'Elanna's left eye. Seven's first impression of the bands were how much like Klingon writing they looked, but there the resemblance ended for they were not Klingon letters or numbers. They did share the same angularness and sharp points where they shifted direction though.

Then B'Elanna's eyes fixed on Seven's left cheek and her mouth formed an O of surprise. "Seven your cheek," she said and then touched Seven.

Seven felt the touch at the core of herself, and groaned at the pleasure of it. Dimly she realized that she must have her own set of newly exposed exoskeleton and its sensitivity to touch was obviously set at maximum.

"It's beautiful," said B'Elanna tracing the spiraling lines with her eyes, the design reminded her of filigree work, several bands erupted from the center of the mating bite on Seven's face then twined with each other in a spiraling design that covered the area of the mating bite and ended up merging with the banding around Seven's left eye.

"Well I guess there won't be any keeping this from the rest of the crew," said B'Elanna with a rueful look at Seven.

Seven sighed, she had been hoping for a few days before they were the prime source of gossip about the ship but obviously that was not to be. "We will be a prime topic of conversation," she agreed.

"How do you control the sensitivity?' questioned B'Elanna.

"Just think about the sensitivity reducing to the point of the skin around it," instructed Seven.

"Ah," said B'Elanna touching her own face. "What does mine look like," she asked curious.

Seven smiled and then rolled out of bed and held out a hand. B'Elanna took it and allowed herself to be pulled out of bed and into the bathing room where she could see herself in the mirror. Seven watched as B'Elanna examined the first signs of her exoskeleton in the mirror. Listening intently she tried to determine if she could hear B'Elanna and then reluctantly concluded that she could not, doubtless her internal systems were not completely formed yet.

"How long do you think it will be before the rest of it shows up?" B'Elanna asked Seven looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"I would guess a few days," replied Seven. "We should see the Doctor to determine the rate of progress; doubtless you will need to consume the same chemical drink that I did while my Mularan systems developed. But you cannot until your systems can handle the metallic compounds otherwise it will poison you."

B'Elanna frowned, "I think I would rather just ask M'ara. And that can wait until later today," B'Elanna turned around and stroked Seven's cheek again and then caught Seven around the waist as her knees buckled from the strength of her reaction. "Definitely, it can wait till later," B'Elanna said huskily.

Seven's eyes opened dazedly, and met the fully aroused eyes of her mate and nodded in complete compliance. It could definitely wait until later.


	6. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 6

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 6**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f intimacy between women.

Rating: M (Mature teen and older)

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History:

Summary: Next day, explanations are due to Janeway.

* * *

Seven woke slowly feeling a heavy warm body lying across her, her response was to smile and tighten her arm's which were wrapped around this body. Seven glanced down and studied B'Elanna's face which was relaxed in sleep. "BangwI SoH," she whispered and then realized when B'Elanna smiled in response that she was not asleep after all.

"You are my beloved too, Be'nal," replied B'Elanna her brown eyes opening. She smiled a lazy smile and ran a hand down Seven's side, sighing happily. B'Elanna nuzzled the side of Seven's breast and then kissed it gently. "You feel good." She informed Seven, the contented smile never leaving her face.

Seven smiled in response and kissed the only part of B'Elanna she could reach right now, which was the hair on the top of her head. It was enough, the driving hunger she had felt to surround, enfold and possess the half Klingon was gone, and in its place was a steady encompassing warmth. She still felt an abiding need to be near the other woman; something about her presence filled an empty spot in Seven she hadn't even been aware of until now.

Most of all Seven was aware of a feeling of deep contentment that mixed oddly with the other emotions she was feeling; joy, wonder, awe and… Seven had a hard time categorizing the remaining emotion she was experiencing. Part of it was the awe she had identified from before but part was a feeling of profound thanks that B'Elanna loved her. Seven realized that she had been given something of infinitesimal worth, yet she did not feel that she had done anything to deserve the depth of joy she was feeling.

B'Elanna exhaled a very reluctant sounding sigh, "I'm hungry again." She announced.

"We should perhaps go to the mess hall and eat." Seven said but did not move.

B'Elanna stilled and then tilted her head up so she could look at Seven, "Ah, we never mentioned something to the Captain." Her voice held more than a hint of trepidation.

Seven was confused for a second then her eyes widened and she realized what B'Elanna was saying and she glanced at the exposed exoskeleton on B'Elanna's cheek.

They stared at each other for a moment then B'Elanna buried her head in Seven's chest mumbling as she did so, "I really don't want to admit to Janeway that we were only thinking about how it was stopping us from making love, instead of thinking about the crew's reaction to me suddenly sprouting an exoskeleton."

Seven frowned slightly, "You do not think they will react well?"

B'Elanna glanced up and noted the slightly downcast expression and placing her hands on either side of Seven she lifted herself upward and caught the blonde's lips in a passionate kiss. When she pulled away B'Elanna said, "I'm more concerned with what they will make up as the reason before an official explanation comes out. No telling what rumors would be started trying to explain it, I've heard some wild ones over the past few years."

Seven considered this statement, "You are concerned rumors would start that I am assimilating people?"

B'Elanna started chuckling, "Well didn't you? I must say though, your method is much preferable to the other way. Unfortunately for the crew though, I'm the only one who gets assimilated by you."

Seven's lips twitched at this, "It is an inefficient method of assimilation, but a very enjoyable one. Perhaps the crew can be reassured that you are the only one I wanted to assimilate."

B'Elanna smirked, "I'm sure some of them will be very disappointed to learn that but they will just have to get over it, you're mine."

"Yes, Be'nal," Seven replied with a satisfied smile.

B'Elanna looked serious once again, "We need to figure out how to inform the Captain. I think we ought to make sure she finds out from us rather than through gossip. Maybe you could ask for her to come here?" B'Elanna sniffed the room, "It might be a good idea to clean up some and replace the sheets first though."

Curious Seven inhaled deeply sorting through the various scents; predominant among them were the musky scents of B'Elanna and herself. "You believe the Captain will find the scents in the room offensive?"

"Well I know we will be telling her essentially exactly what happened but most people don't want to smell it," said B'Elanna looking amused. B'Elanna inhaled again, "And that's pretty unmistakable."

Seven nodded, "We will replace the bedding and shower before contacting Kathryn that should be sufficient time to dissipate the scents to a point undetectable by human senses."

Once they had remade the bed and showered Seven inquired as to the whereabouts of the Captain. Upon learning that she was located in her ready room Seven contacted her, "Seven to Captain Janeway."

"Yes, Seven?" came the reply.

"Captain I need to speak with you about a personal matter," Seven said with a smile at B'Elanna.

"Of course Annika, I'm free right now if you want to come to my Ready Room," Kathryn replied.

"I believe you would prefer to come to my quarters Kathryn, rather than have B'Elanna and I walk through the ship," Seven replied.

There was a puzzled silence on the other end then, "I'll be right down."

Several minutes later the admittance chime rang and Seven greeted Kathryn at the door, "Annika what's this…" Kathryn's voice trailed off a moment as she caught sight of Seven's cheek and the new exoskeleton there.

"Captain," B'Elanna drew Janeway's attention to her and stepped forward. It was clear when Janeway caught sight of the exoskeleton on her cheek from the widening of the Captain's eyes. "We forgot to inform you of something M'ara told us," B'Elanna said hoping to draw most of the Captain's attention. "That I would develop Mularan systems like Annika's once we had committed to each other. We took the Oath last night." B'Elanna finished.

"We thought you would want to be informed before the crew saw B'Elanna and formed erroneous conclusions," Seven added. Her voice softened, "And we wanted you to be the first to know of our changed status."

B'Elanna saw the incipient angry reaction dissipate at Annika's last comment and breathed a sigh of relief. It was something they had discussed in the shower, that they both wanted Kathryn to be the first to know. B'Elanna had then suggested that they ask her to perform a public ceremony for them as soon as it could be arranged and Seven after hearing the reason's agreed.

"We would like you to perform a standard Starfleet ceremony for us when it can be arranged." B'Elanna said to the woman who was now the closest thing she had to a mother-in-law.

Kathryn turned toward B'Elanna at this in some confusion, "The Oath you took is considered binding by Federation law, both of you are Federation citizens. Why two ceremonies?"

"That is true, but B'Elanna believes it will assist the crew in transitioning from seeing us as separate individuals to relating to us as a couple if we have a public ceremony," said Seven. Then with a slight frown Seven asked, "Do you disagree?"

Looking thoughtful Kathryn answered, "No, I believe it's a good idea." Then her eyes narrowed, "Now back to you two forgetting to tell me about this. What were you two thinking of?" Both women glanced at each other and blushed, Kathryn looked at the two of them and rolled her eyes slightly and sighed, "Nevermind."

Putting her hands on her hips she glared at the two of them, "This forgetting to mention things to me that you think I might have problems with stops here. Though my relationship with both of you is more personal than with the rest of the crew, I am still your Captain." She speared both of them with an intense glare. "Now what exactly did M'ara tell you?"

A muted, "Yes, Captain," came from both of them and they began relating to her what M'ara had told them. As they did so Janeway got a fairly clear idea of why neither of them had immediately thought to tell her. M'ara had forced them to make the decision of whether or not they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives before they had the chance to get to know each other in the way most couples had the luxury of being able to. Not to mention the extra stress of B'Elanna's physical changes and the mental connection that would form as a direct result of said decision.

'No wonder they didn't want anyone else's input on this decision,' thought Janeway with understanding when they had finished. However, the results of their decision would affect the ship and crew, so they should have notified her about the additional information M'ara had given them. "Do you two understand why you should have told me this information when you received it?" Janeway asked in a stern tone.

"It affects the rest of the crew because you will help Annika and I with our task." answered B'Elanna before Seven could speak.

Janeway suppressed the smile that wanted to form at this answer and instead continued in the same stern tone, "Can I assume that it will not happen again?"

A chorused "Yes Captain." answered her.

"I'll count on it," she answered giving them a look that said they had better not disappoint her. Then her face softened, "I would be most honored to affirm your Oath in a public ceremony in front of the crew." She paused and moving toward the couch sat down with a sigh, "Now to figure out what to tell the crew."

Janeway frowned into space for a moment then with a thoughtful look, "I'd like to bring Chakotay and Tuvok in on this conversation. It will become necessary to inform them of your task… whatever it may be, and this would be a good opportunity to lay some of the groundwork for that announcement and its importance to the continuing existence of the Federation."

B'Elanna grimaced not looking forward to her and Annika being the center of intense attention when that occurred. Being important was nice, having people know the fate of the Federation rested on your shoulders was another thing entirely.

"You don't agree Lt.?" Janeway asked B'Elanna.

B'Elanna started in surprise then realized how the Captain had interpreted her silence, "No Captain, I think that's a good idea. I was just thinking of M'ara's task and wondering what it might be, and why it will be so important."

Janeway's lips twitched in a smirk, "What, you don't want a task worthy of Kahless?" she said now guessing the source of B'Elanna's frown accurately.

"Not particularly," B'Elanna answered her dryly.

"Don't the Klingons have a saying about glory not being sought but thrust upon one?" Janeway asked B'Elanna.

B'Elanna grimaced, "I believe so, yes. I wouldn't mind at all though if it were less critical."

Kathryn's mood sobered at this comment and she nodded, "Janeway to Chakotay and Tuvok," she said after tapping her com badge.

"Yes, Captain," came back the almost simultaneous replies.

After ascertaining that there was no indication of any nearby ships or anything else of note in the area, Janeway asked the two men to come to Seven's quarters. Undoubtedly a few eyebrows were raised on the bridge at this request but Kathryn suspected just as many would have been raised if she had asked her two senior most officers to go to her ready room before she spoke with them.

When the two men arrived Kathryn watched as they immediately took in the changed appearance of the two women.

Tuvok reacted with a raised eyebrow and a question, "You have taken the Oath I presume."

Chakotay reacted more quietly with a slight frown and glance at her and Kathryn guessed he was wondering what the Captain's reaction to Seven's and B'Elanna's actions were. She nodded at him and turned to watch the two respond to her tactical officer.

"We have." Seven stated quietly and with an unmistakable timber of pride in her voice. The look that she gave B'Elanna as she said it was definitely both tender and possessive. B'Elanna's response to Seven was to straighten and if even possible look more pleased than she had been looking.

Janeway saw Chakotay's eyes widen as he took in Seven's actions and B'Elanna's response, he breathed in deeply and seemed to come to a decision for Janeway saw his shoulders relax as they usually did when he decided something. Ruefully she realized that after six years she had gotten to know her first officer fairly well.

"Congratulations." Chakotay offered quietly but sincerely to the two women.

Seven offered back a polite, "Thank you, Commander." while B'Elanna offered him a wide smile and a more heartfelt "Thanks, Chakotay."

"I asked for you to come here to help me figure out how to tell the crew, maybe even lay some ground work if we need to inform them that Seven and B'Elanna have an important task that has to be accomplished." Janeway spoke up from where she had been standing observing the room.

Eventually they came up with a simple explanation and one which they thought everyone would accept without too many questions. Their explanation was that Mulara had provided for who ever choose to be with Seven share in her unique physiology so they would be equal. Janeway sent out an official message to that effect and then followed it with the announcement of the public wedding ceremony in two weeks time.

By now Seven and B'Elanna had already eaten lunch in Seven's quarters and Alpha shift was almost over. "Have you two decided which of your quarters you are going to live in?" asked Chakotay curiously once everything was done.

B'Elanna and Seven looked at him surprised and then at each other questioningly. "These would probably be easier since I've already put in the lighting Seven required." B'Elanna said with a questioning inflection.

Seven nodded her acquiescence, a brief smile playing on her lips as she did so. She had forgotten in the midst of everything else that the Oath meant that she and B'Elanna were now officially a couple, with all that it entailed, including cohabitation.

"I'm sure we can give them a few days to figure out who's moving where," Janeway said as she stood. "Ladies, gentlemen would you join me for dinner in the mess hall at… 1800 hours?"

Chakotay and Tuvok on seeing the Captain rise from her seat stood as well, taking the clear hint that it was time to leave. At the Captain's question they murmured together, "Yes, Captain."

"1800," nodded B'Elanna, Seven after a brief moment of assessment nodded to Kathryn with understanding dawning in her eyes.

When their three guests had left B'Elanna commented, "Well that will make a statement."

"That the Captain approves of our change in status?" inquired Seven.

"Approves, was aware… and that Tuvok and Chakotay are onboard with her." answered B'Elanna.

Seven raised her brow and looked puzzled and B'Elanna could see she was trying to work out how she was using the word 'onboard' besides the obvious one. "In this case it means that Chakotay and Tuvok are aware of what's going on and… at least publicly agree with it."

Seven nodded satisfied then she frowned slightly, "I believe we should wear our uniforms to dinner instead of changing?"

B'Elanna hesitated before answering then finally replied, "I'm not sure perhaps we should ask."

Seven nodded and contacted the Captain, "Kathryn, what are the dress requirements for this evening?"

"You're the third person to ask me that Annika, casual please. I'm eating with my daughter and her wife primarily, my Astrometrics Officer and Chief Engineer secondly," Janeway replied.

Seven smiled pleased, "We will see you at 1800 Kathryn."

Promptly at 1800 hours Seven, wearing her blue Mularan outfit, and B'Elanna, wearing a loose white shirt and black pants, walked into the mess hall. They were waved over by Chakotay, who was wearing his usual brown casual suit, and had already claimed a table. Captain Janeway, wearing clothing remarkably similar to B'Elanna's, and Tuvok wearing a light blue casual suit walked in as the two women sat down at the table and came over to join them.

The general noise level in the mess hall had dropped for a moment then risen as the two women had walked in and found themselves the center of attention as several curious crewmembers studied their faces. Chakotay's action of inviting them over to join him had caused a slight stir, but the Captain and Tuvok's entrance caused an almost unnatural silence in the room as everyone there paused and watched.

Janeway appeared serenely unaware of the attention as she crossed the distance between the doors and table. She smiled as she approached, "So anyone asked what's on the menu for this evening yet?"

"Chili," answered Chakotay with suppressed amusement, "Neelix is experimenting with Earth dishes again."

Janeway raised an eyebrow, and an apprehensive expression appeared on her face. "I hope he doesn't go overboard on the Talaxian chilies," she commented as she sat down.

The level of conversation in the room slowly grew as it became obvious that the conversation at the table was about the rather commonplace topic of Neelix's cooking.

B'Elanna turned to Seven, "I don't suppose there is a way to hurry up my exoskeleton? Just the part where I can control the sensitivity of my taste buds would be fine."

Seven, both amused and sympathetic replied, "Unfortunately not B'Elanna."

"Quit rubbing in the fact that soon you won't have to worry about such things." Chakotay said grinning at B'Elanna.

B'Elanna smirked in reply and opened her mouth as if to retort, "Shhh," admonished Janeway as she saw Neelix approaching the table.

"Congratulations on your Oath taking, Seven, Lt. Torres," said the Talaxian beaming at the two women. "I'll need to get with you this week to discuss the menu for your ceremony." He paused a moment and examined them with wide eyes, "Your… what is it? Exoskeleton is very nice looking, very Klingon. And yours Seven, very…" he paused and then with a gentler smile, "why it's very beautiful actually, I like how it merges with the lines around your eye."

In a sudden shift of direction he left that subject and asked, "Have you decided whether you are going with more of an Earth traditional ceremony or a Klingon wedding?" Neelix stared intently at them waiting for their answer.

"Earth traditional," blurted B'Elanna, not at all certain what a Klingon wedding would entail, and not particularly minded to find out. Her eyes shifted from Neelix to Seven and she looked dismayed, "That is if Seven doesn't want to have a Klingon ceremony."

"That will not be necessary B'Elanna, we are already married according to Klingon custom," Seven replied with a slight, understanding smile at her wife. "The ceremony will not be a wedding Neelix as we are already legally married but a public commitment ceremony."

Neelix frowned, "I can't say that I'm familiar with that particular ceremony, but not to worry I'll have it thoroughly researched in no time," he finished up cheerily. "Now five bowls of my one alarm chili?" he asked looking around the table curiously.

"One alarm?" asked Janeway.

"Yes, Seven's been helping me adjust how much spice I use. I hadn't realized how sensitive human taste buds were to 'hot' spices. Those new taste buds of hers have helped me out a lot; she's been able to tell me precisely how much I need to reduce the amount of spices I use to make a milder dish."

Several people near them upon hearing this turned curiously and glanced at the table and especially Seven. To Seven's surprise several of them gave her friendly smiles and nodded to her when they saw her looking back at them. Seven glanced at B'Elanna for guidance only to see her wife watching her with a proud smile which caused her to blush slightly and smile back. Kathryn speaking caught her attention and she turned her attention from the confusing actions of her crewmates to those at the table. Thus she missed the surprised looks that followed as several people witnessed for the first time the ex-Borg react in an emotional manner.

"I think I'd definitely like to have a bowl." Janeway said smiling. Her response was repeated in various ways by the others around the table and Neelix bustled off toward his kitchen and returned a few moments later with the requested chili.

Seven tasted the food placed in front of her and gave Neelix one of her rare smiles, "It is pleasant tasting."

Her comment was echoed in various ways by the others and as Neelix left the table he paused for a moment to look at Seven and gripped her shoulder lightly, "Thanks for the help Seven, I might even have to make a second batch the way people are asking for seconds."

"You are welcome." Seven replied sincerely.

The meal continued rather quietly from there with Janeway discussing with Seven and B'Elanna their reading assignment from the day before. The conversation drew all of those at the table into a lively discussion of Admiral Kirk's career and the role of his First Officer and Chief Medical Officer in the decisions he made. B'Elanna had at first been highly interested in the conversation, arguing vehemently with Seven and Tuvok, and being supported by Janeway, over whether or not some of his decisions had been illogically driven by emotional reactions.

Her wife had a cool dispassionate look on her face as she argued her point, and B'Elanna would normally have been irritated by it except for the fact that she noted that Seven was displaying increasing signs of arousal as their discussion continued. It was nothing that anyone but B'Elanna would notice and puzzled her until she remembered that Seven liked seeing her being passionate about things. That realization was the end of B'Elanna's interest in the discussion as her mind started wandering to other, more interesting things.

Aggravatingly the discussion would not seem to end, either Chakotay or the Captain would bring up another point and Tuvok would obligingly offer a comment and everyone would stare expectantly at Seven and B'Elanna. Finally B'Elanna noticed with dumbfounded amazement the twinkle in Janeway and Chakotay's eyes and realized the two were purposefully dragging out the conversation.

At first B'Elanna felt a flush of anger which rapidly drained away as she realized that Janeway and Chakotay did not intend to be mean, they were just enjoying teasing them. Besides she admitted to herself, they weren't doing anything she hadn't done to new couples in the past. Only now she was on the receiving side and unlike the times when she had been doing the teasing and found it an amusing activity, she was finding that being teased was extremely annoying.

Abruptly she cut off the discussion, "Kathryn, Chakotay, Tuvok," she smiled at each sweetly, "As nice as this is and as much fun as you have been having, I have plans for the evening that involve Annika and I being entirely alone and in our quarters. If you will excuse us." she said rising and grasping Seven's hand to pull her up with her.

Seven gave B'Elanna a surprised and puzzled look but readily allowed her to draw her to her feet amid the resulting quiet laughter. Seven waited until they were out of the mess hall and relatively alone before she asked the question that had been puzzling her. "B'Elanna what is the difference between what you said in the mess hall and what I said to you and Lt. Paris?"

B'Elanna slowed, the question having caught her by surprise, and glanced at her new wife's puzzled face. She sighed and wracked her brain for an answer that would make sense to Seven. B'Elanna knew Seven thought that her social blunder a few months earlier had simply been because she discussed Tom and B'Elanna's sex life in public. Yet now B'Elanna had done the same thing and it was apparently alright.

"Well for one thing I was the one who brought it up instead of Kathryn or Chakotay. Second it depends on who you are speaking to and the closeness of your relationship with them." answered B'Elanna finally.

Seven frowned for a moment then asked, "If we had been friends at the time would it have been permissible?"

"Well, if you had said it in a lower tone of voice so that only Tom and I heard it, then yes it would have." answered B'Elanna with a regretful look.

They had arrived at the door of Seven's quarters by this time and entered, when the doors shut Seven turned and with a raised brow said, "You stated you had plans for us when we were alone in our quarters?"

B'Elanna easily detected the amusement in Seven's tone, and an emphasis on the word our. There was no resentment, no anger in the blue eyes that regarded her so warmly. 'Perhaps it is time for me to move on as well,' B'Elanna thought. "Oh, yes… those plans." B'Elanna said with a smile.

Drawing Seven into her arms she lifted her face and captured the blonde's lips. B'Elanna was determined that this evening would be gentler than the previous night. She had successfully proven her worth; her mate was won; now she could concentrate only on Annika's pleasure.

She was still planning how she would make love to Seven when the subject of her thoughts abruptly pulled away, bent slightly and picked her up in her arms. B'Elanna gasped in surprise and gripped Seven's shoulders for balance. In a few seconds Seven had moved from the front room to the bedroom. She lowered her to the surface of the bed, followed her down and began kissing her again.

Insistent hands at B'Elanna's waist soon had her shirt free from her pants, then seconds later the feel of air across her chest let her know that the shirt buttons had given little resistance to the ex-Borg. As Seven started trailing kisses along her cheek and down her neck, causing her to turn her head to expose more of her neck she felt Seven's hands slide underneath her. Mere moments later her bra loosened and then Seven's hands were there as well causing her to arch and gasp at the sensation.

When Seven pulled away she was confused at first until Seven said huskily, "Sit up." Knowing what was coming next B'Elanna let her wife pull off her shirt before doing some undressing of her own. It was not until Seven was as naked as she that she allowed the blonde to push her back down onto the bed. When Seven started nibbling her way down her neck B'Elanna groaned and arched her neck back in response to the gentle bites.

"I have been researching different methods of… lovemaking," Seven whispered against her skin. "I wish to determine whether the information I obtained is correct."

"Oh," said B'Elanna in a strangled tone, "What methods would those be?"

"I am employing one now." said Seven against the skin of her breast just before teeth gently closed around a particular area.

"Ahh," cried B'Elanna as she arched against Seven at the delicious mixture of sensations this evoked.

In no way was Seven hurting her, but B'Elanna found the contrast between the precise pressure of Seven's teeth and her tongue on her breasts to be incredibly arousing.

When Seven left her breasts it was pull away slightly and gently rake her nails down B'Elanna's sides and over her hips, causing her to tremble. Then Seven lowered head and gently bit the side of her stomach then ran her tongue over the area, moving lower she did the same just over B'Elanna's hipbone. B'Elanna could not understand why she was finding this as arousing as she was but with each gentle purposeful bite her excitement was rising.

"Turn over." Seven's voice had went from husky to downright smoky and B'Elanna did as she'd asked without question, thinking fleetingly that the night was definitely not going as she planned but she was certainly not going to argue with the way things were going.

Seven continued her gentle attacks down B'Elanna's back, raking her nails up the back of her legs, over her ass and along her sides intermittently. By now B'Elanna was finding it difficult to think of anything but where Seven might touch her next, lying on her stomach she could not tell and she found the fact that she didn't know to be arousing in and of itself.

By the time she felt Seven's hand seeking intimate admittance, she was almost whimpering with need, having been slowly tormented for almost an hour. She breathed in deeply as Seven lay down on her back, pressing her into the bed and began to touch her.

Then Seven began to nip along her back wherever she could reach as she increased the tempo of her hand. B'Elanna had never thought of her back as being so sensitive but now it seemed to be wired directly to her groin and both seemed to be incredibly responsive to Seven's touch. Her world narrowed to, the raking of Seven's teeth over the skin of her back, and the glide of her tongue over that same skin.

B'Elanna was unaware to the fact that she was panting loudly, and moaning almost continuously. Seven, however, was not and when she judged her wife was sufficiently aroused she touched her wife inside and outside the way that her research had indicated would bring her great pleasure and found herself flung almost off B'Elanna when the half-Klingon suddenly howled inarticulately and exploded into motion underneath her.

Seven wrapped an arm around her wife's waist and hung on to the wildly moving woman determined to bring her pleasure and was rewarded moments later when B'Elanna in rapid order, climaxed, screamed out her name and then seemed to collapse under her. Seven was worried for .04 seconds until she realized that B'Elanna was not in any distress, only overcome by sensations as she had been the when B'Elanna made love to her last night.

Seven's ears were still ringing with the noise of B'Elanna's yell and her eyes widened as she replayed the last few moments in her memory and made calculation on the pitch and decibels her wife had made. Her brow rose at the answer she came up with and she sighed slightly and began calculating how much and what type of soundproofing their quarters would need to ensure their privacy.

A few moments later B'Elanna's eyes fluttered open, "Water." she rasped out.

Seven obediently rolled off her and went to get the requested item, when she came back B'Elanna was sitting up though she was listing heavily to the side and supporting herself with a braced arm. She took the proffered water as Seven sat down beside her and took a few swallows before asking, "Research?"

Seven cocked her head to the side deciphering the request then answered, "I correlated your responses last night, what I learned of your physiology and was able to extrapolate from the information on Klingon and Human sexual responses what you might find pleasurable. I am pleased to see I was correct," Seven replied proudly. She paused then thoughtfully added, "I believe I can further refine my technique to provide you with a greater amount of stimulation," and looked at her wife expectantly.

B'Elanna's eyes widened at this and she blurted, "Greater? Any more and you might kill me woman."

Seven's eyes clouded over and her face fell at this, "I damaged you?" she asked with great concern.

B'Elanna sat up, set her drink aside and pulled her into a tight embrace, "No you didn't damage me, Be'nal. I was joking, you already made me pass out and you're talking about how you want to do better next time."

She held Seven until she could feel the woman relaxing, "You don't have to be the perfect lover to please me Annika. Your simplest touch gives me pleasure because I want to be touched by you."

Seven drew away from her and stared at her with a slight frown marring her face, "You found tonight to be lacking in some manner?"

B'Elanna groaned, "No, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying that lovemaking is more than technique, it's about how you feel about the person you touch. You showed me just now that you love me, I just don't want you to get so focused on touching me in the perfect way that you lose sight of that." B'Elanna smiled gently with rueful amusement at her wife, "And you know you can get that focused Be'nal."

Seven looked at her utterly seriously for a few moments, obviously thinking about what she had said. Finally she replied, "I believe I understand B'Elanna."

B'Elanna tried to find the energy inside herself to begin making love to her wife in return but only felt an overwhelming need to curl up in Seven's arms and fall asleep. "Give me another moment." she said to Seven, unaware of how much her voice betrayed her exhaustion.

Seven looked at her curiously then realized that B'Elanna felt she had to reciprocate. "Lay down," she ordered her wife and pressed her back, then followed her down and wrapped her arms about the shorter woman. "I am 'alright' go to sleep BangwI."

"I should…" began B'Elanna.

"Should go to sleep, I do not mind that I 'tired you out'." replied Seven with a smirk that B'Elanna could not see but could hear.

B'Elanna knew that she should really argue but she was just so tired now, and Seven was so warm and soft and it was so comfortable to have her hold her….

Seven cocked her head curiously as she heard a peculiar noise coming from her wife. Finally she identified it, B'Elanna was snoring, it was not loud but she was definitely snoring. Seven listened entranced for awhile as she finished working out exactly how much of each type of soundproofing would be needed and the best configuration of where to place it. When she was done she kissed B'Elanna's head and closed her eyes.

In the morning B'Elanna awoke to find Seven gone from the bed, going out into the living area she found her entering an engineering request at the terminal.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Entering a request for soundproofing, I do not wish everyone in Deck 9 Section 11 to know when we are being intimate." replied Seven, who had turned to smile at her wife as she said this.

B'Elanna's eyes widened at this and she groaned, "Oh no."

Seven frowned, "I do not believe you would have appreciated me stopping to remind you we only had standard soundproofing last night."

B'Elanna started chuckling then laughed fully at this comment, "No, I would not have appreciated you stopping what you were doing to remind me to be quiet." She got her chuckles under control; "It's just that the Delaney sisters live in this section." she finished ruefully.


	7. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 7

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 7**

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Rating: PG

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History:

Summary: AU Equinox

* * *

B'Elanna input the last of the parameters for the diagnostic and initiated the program; in… 5.9567 minutes… her new cortical node supplied almost instantaneously, it would be finished. B'Elanna jerked slightly, still not used to having the implanted processor and not quite adept yet in directing information to it only when she required its specific abilities.

Ten days, thought B'Elanna, as she absently looked at the warp core from the upper level diagnostic console. It had been ten days now since she and Seven had taken the Oath. It had taken five days of that time for her exoskeleton, implants, and various muscle and nerve augmentations to complete, and she didn't have a clue how long it would take her to get used to the changes that had come with them.

Ten very full days, as Janeway had approved their plans to replace the existing energy absorption systems with ones that utilized the new material. It had taken them two days to build the special replicator and then another three days to replicate the amount of energy absorbent material needed. Once that step had been completed, the actual redesign, testing, and bringing online the new systems had taken another three days of effort.

The past two days she and Seven had been working on how to redesign the Tactical Suit so that it not only interfaced with Seven's exoskeleton, but it also protected her from attacks such as what the ATI weapon had utilized.

Over the course of that time B'Elanna had heard so many comments of 'cultural' and 'Klingon' when referring to her exoskeleton that she was heartily wishing people would just stop trying to describe the black, silver and red angular designs. And no they did not form any Klingon words or phrases for that matter either. Kathelss, but she was tired of answering that particular question.

'They will become accustomed to your new appearance and cease the activity.' Seven's mental voice reassured her, and fleeing thoughts accompanied it of curious stares and whispered comments after Seven had returned from Mulara.

B'Elanna straightened surprised; she hadn't realized that she was 'broadcasting' her thoughts to Seven. B'Elanna had been somewhat upset with M'ara when she had realized that the goddess hadn't told them the entire truth. She hadn't precisely lied but she had certainly implied that they would always know each other's thoughts.

Instead they had found out that the communication between them was under their conscious control. Seven had almost immediately mastered how to communicate with B'Elanna only when she intended to, but B'Elanna was still struggling.

Uncertainty flowed through the link from Seven, then 'You seemed to want reassurance that they would stop their actions.' Then almost apologetically, 'You did broadcast your thoughts to me B'Elanna, I could not hear them otherwise.'

'No it's alright,' B'Elanna sent back sheepishly as she realized she had done just that. 'I just wasn't really doing it consciously. I mean I was but… well I didn't really think about doing it… I just did…' she stopped herself as she realized with disgust that she was mentally babbling at Seven.

'B'enal, I love you,' Seven replied, and a surge of warm caring emotion caused B'Elanna to inhale sharply in reaction and smile warmly.

This part of the mental connection she could definitely get used to, B'Elanna thought, warmed by her partner's evident love for her, even if she couldn't seem to get the hang of not broadcasting unintentionally. Or perhaps that should be unconsciously, B'Elanna reflected.

'I do not mind.' Came back the quick reply from Seven.

And B'Elanna understood, even though Seven no longer yearned for the voices of the Collective, she found the presence of B'Elanna's voice in her mind comforting, easing the silence that still sometimes unnerved her after so many years of existing within a symphony of mental sound.

'I know I just need to learn how to control it better.' B'Elanna sent back grimacing slightly, disgruntled with her continued lack of mental discipline. Suddenly realizing where she was she smoothed her expression, and glanced around the engineering deck to see if anyone had noticed her odd behavior.

The three of them, Seven, the Captain and she, had decided to keep this one detail to themselves at least for now. Let the crew adjust to her altered appearance and the relationship before letting them know this as well. Kathryn had said that she hoped that everyone would see the strength and obvious, at least to her eyes, love between the two women. And hopefully when they finally learned of the mental connection no one would ever even think to suggest that their connection was in any way Borg like.

B'Elanna wasn't sure she agreed with the Captain, she would have preferred to have it all out in the open all at once. She wasn't really sure that people wouldn't find it suspicious that they had kept that piece of information from them. She knew she would have definitely been suspicious upon learning that bit of info, if it were happening to someone else that is.

She mentally held her breath and after a few moments was relieved when there was continued silence in her mind. She hadn't wanted Seven to hear those thoughts; she didn't want Seven to worry about the issue. She had been caught by surprise by how emotionally torn Seven had felt when she first argued with the Captain over the matter.

Surprised enough that she had stopped mid sentence and went over to Seven to hold her reassuringly while Kathryn looking on in puzzled confusion which changed to frowning concern when her eyes meet B'Elanna's a few moments later.

"I'll make it an order so you can blame me later," Kathryn had offered, making it sound joking, and B'Elanna knew that she had guessed why her Chief Engineer was quietly holding her 'daughter'.

That had been the last time they had spoken together on the subject, and though B'Elanna still had her doubts she tried to keep them to herself. Besides that one issue their relationship was definitely deepening as time passed. And the mental connection had certainly made their lovemaking even more intense. B'Elanna found herself remembering the lovemaking of the night before and how it had felt to experience Seven's focused intensity while loving her not only physically, but mentally as well.

"Uhmmm Chief?" the amused sounding voice of Carey intruded.

B'Elanna pulled her thoughts away from the memories, intensely embarrassed as she realized that she had been growling aloud in reaction to them, and that Carey had caught her.

"Yes Carey," not quite managing to keep her annoyance at herself out of her tone.

Carey ignored it, "Your diagnostic results?" he asked, "I need them to complete my testing. I tried to get your attention but you seemed to be distracted by… something." By the last sentence B'Elanna could clearly tell from the twitching of his mouth that he was struggling not to laugh in her face.

Great this will just get added to the list of gossip tidbits, thought B'Elanna irritated to herself. Not that it would make it anywhere near the top, that place was still firmly held by the time when she and Seven had been caught passionately kissing in her office. It would have been a prime gossip topic no matter what, but it was the circumstances leading up to the kiss that made it such a subject of extraordinary interest.

Seven had strode into engineering, coolly asked her to review some information calling her Lt. Torres-Hansen, strode into her office and waited imperiously for B'Elanna to join her. The other engineering members had collectively rolled their eyes at Seven's behavior and as soon as B'Elanna went into her office had started gossiping about the new relationship.

Someone had come into the office not one minute later and had walked in on quite a different scene than they had expected. Seven had B'Elanna pinned against her desk with one hand wrapped in B'Elanna's hair holding her head back and her other hand pinning B'Elanna's wrists behind her back and was kissing her quite thoroughly. Both of the women were so caught up with each other that neither noticed the entrance or the exit moments later of another person.

The information had rocketed to the top of the gossip list in record time, soundly trumping the Delaney's tale of how loudly B'Elanna had screamed out Seven's name that one night. The only positive aspect to it was that between the two pieces of gossip no one now thought that Seven was unemotional or dispassionate, at least not when it came to their Chief Engineer. And B'Elanna had gained quite a bit of notoriety for so thoroughly melting the Ice Princess's ice.

What they didn't know was that B'Elanna had been daydreaming for several hours and unintentionally bombarding Seven with images and thoughts of just how she planned to make love to her that evening and how she hoped Seven would ravish her in return.

Finally Seven, aroused beyond the point of caring that they were both on duty by the explicit thoughts of her lover, had come to find her. After kissing her passionately, nipping down her neck, and growling out "Mine," in the way B'Elanna had been daydreaming about, Seven informed her that as much as she enjoyed knowing exactly how much B'Elanna desired her that she was finding it difficult to accomplish her duties.

B'Elanna had been embarrassed, amused and a bit smug that Seven had been aroused enough to seek her out and act out the scene B'Elanna had been fantasizing about. She had apologized to Seven, and after a few moments of erasing the evidence of their encounter Seven had left engineering looking as composed and cool as she had entered.

The first B'Elanna had realized that the moment had been witnessed was when Seven asked her what 'still waters run deep' meant. Which lead to Seven revealing that the gossip about them had changed from people commenting that they didn't understand why B'Elanna was with the Ice Queen and that the Delaney sisters' had more likely heard the two fighting than anything else, to comments about there being fire under that ice and wasn't B'Elanna the lucky one to have been the first to notice.

A bit of digging on B'Elanna's part had unearthed the fact that their interlude in the office had been intruded upon, but she could not find out who had witnessed it. Whoever it was, everyone knew better than to mention lest she find out. Between her continuing to get caught thinking about Seven, and the scheduled Wedding in four days, the gossip was not likely to calm down any time soon.

'I have detected a distress call from a Federation ship, the USS Equinox.' Seven's mental voice intruded along with visual images, and data.

A static filled image of a human male, dressed in command red and with four pips, phaser in hand was firing at something off the image area and shouting "This is Captain Ransom of the Federation Starship Equinox. We're being attacked. We need assistance."

For a moment the images and information didn't make any sense to her, what Seven was telling her was almost too improbable to believe. 'Where?' she managed to form the question through her confusion and rising excitement.

'The ship is 3.2 light years away.' Seven informed her.

'Have you contacted the Captain?' asked B'Elanna.

Seven answered, 'I am informing her now.' She felt Seven's attention sift away from her, though she could still hear her wife as she spoke to Janeway.

B'Elanna took a deep breath and ordered her thoughts. She didn't recognize the name of the ship, nor did the bridge design she had seen immediately bring a particular class of ship to mind. Considering the image she had received from Seven objectively she realized something immediately from the image, the bridge of the Equinox was a lot smaller than Voyagers, so it was reasonable to assume the ship was smaller as well.

B'Elanna shook her head; there were just too many possibilities to come up with a reasonable explanation as to what another Starfleet vessel was doing in the Delta quadrant. But one thing she did know, and that was what the Captain would do next. Aloud she asked Carey "How much longer on the warp core diagnostic?"

"Just finishing up now, I was about to begin the EPS diagnostics next." He answered.

"Hold off on those, and get ready for warp 9." She told him.

He looked at her sharply for a moment, and then glanced at the console behind her, curiosity evident. B'Elanna guessed that he was wondering if Seven had sent her a message, and realizing that it was prudent to encourage his belief B'Elanna stepped in front of the screen as if to prevent him from seeing something.

A look of satisfaction flitted over his face as she 'confirmed' his suspicion, and he turned back to his own console and started entering commands. B'Elanna turned away and grimaced, she hated this. Hated deceiving Carey and the others, and the deception she had just completed by pretending that she had gotten the information from Seven from her console instead of by their interlink.

3.2 light years would take them 8.96 hours at maximum warp; B'Elanna didn't even need to use her cortical node to calculate that number. Provided of course, she thought to herself, that the crew of the Equinox was even alive by then. Which brought up a question, 'How long ago did they send that message?' she asked Seven.

'14 hours' came back the brief reply and B'Elanna realized that Janeway and Chakotay were in Astrometrics with her and most of Seven's attention was focused on answering Kathryn's questions.

B'Elanna shook her head slightly, 23 hours for Equinox before they arrived, and they had been under attack when they sent the message. Hopefully they had managed to fight off their attackers or Voyager was likely to find very little to rescue.

Five minutes later came the expected request by Chakotay for maximum warp and Carey glanced her way for a second then headed over toward her.

"What's going on?" he asked in a low voice.

B'Elanna shook her head, "I'll tell you after they call a senior staff meeting." she admonished lightly.

"All senior staff to the conference room," interrupted what she was about to say next.

B'Elanna grinned at Joe, "See you in an hour."

He sighed disappointed, but grinned at her as she left engineering.

9 hours later….

B'Elanna glanced away from her engineering console to look over at Seven who was manning the science console, the Doctor hovering over her shoulder. Seven glanced up catching her eyes and a mutual look of concern passed between them, hopefully there would be someone alive here for them to assist.

"Take us out of warp," Janeway ordered tersely.

The next few seconds on the bridge were silent as Harry worked away at his console. When the Equinox appeared on the viewscreen B'Elanna took one confused look at the clearly visible shields of the other ship and then focused her attention on the information coming in from Voyager's scans of the damaged vessel.

"They are heavily damaged. Multiple hull breaches. Warp drive is off-line." Tuvok's calm voice reported from behind her.

The information displayed at her console was confusing to say the least. B'Elanna could tell that the smaller ships shields were being disrupted by short duration energy surges, but she couldn't tell what was causing them or where their point of origin might be. Nor had she ever seen energy readings quite like these before. She was occupied with trying to find a match in her recently acquired Borg knowledge when Neelix asked what was happening to their shields.

"Their being disrupted by short duration energy surges, but I can't find any source." B'Elanna answered distractedly.

"Weapon's fire?" asked Tom and she spared him a scathing glance and was about to repeat that she hadn't found a source when Tuvok spoke up.

"There are no other ships in this area." he interrupted them.

Tom quickly turned back to his console and hunched his shoulders slightly, belatedly realizing that B'Elanna would certainly have recognized weapons fire damage.

"We're with hailing range," Harry announced.

The next few moments were terse, with Captain Janeway hailing the other ship and Captain Ransom shouting for them to match shields with them. When the strange whining noise started both she and Seven heard it before anyone else did. Seven informed her split seconds through their link what the source of the sound was before verbally announcing it.

Her mind fixed on the interspatial part of the information and she began scanning back through the information on the energy bursts. It was a hunch, but it would certainly explain how the energy bursts seemed to appear from nowhere. And if she was correct….just then they matched shields with Equinox and the sound disappeared.

Moments later Seven reported that the fissures had disappeared as well.

B'Elanna was distracted from her earlier thoughts by Janeway ordering away teams when they failed to contact Equinox, but Seven reminded her of it on their way to the transporter room.

'You are correct. We should monitor our shields for attacks of the same type.' Seven sent. 'Your theory that the energy bursts and interspatial fissures are related in some manner is logical.'

She was warmed by Seven's affirmation of the tenuous theory. 'Yes but why?' B'Elanna conveyed through the link that why included lots of things, including why Equinox was being attacked, let alone by something from another spatial dimension.

'I do not know, perhaps the answers will be found on the Equinox.' Seven replied.

Just before she transported with Tom and Chakotay, Seven sent 'be careful B'enal.'

'You too, don't let Starfleet do anything dumb.' B'Elanna replied, meaning Harry who was on the team with Seven.

'I will watch out for him,' Seven replied a moment later and B'Elanna could tell that she was now on the Equinox from the spatial information provided by the interlink.

As she materialized aboard the other ship B'Elanna looked around dismayed by the destruction that was clearly visible, her mind cataloguing the repairs that might be needed to get the vessel moving again. She frowned slightly confused by what she was seeing as she examined the warp core. Nodding an absent acknowledgement to Chakotay when he ordered her to get the power back up, B'Elanna headed over to the warp core for a closer examination of the modifications that had attracted her attention.

It was an injector manifold, she recognized that much, but it had been extensively modified. Very extensively, she altered her opinion upon further examination. What type of fuel are they using? B'Elanna wondered, it was certainly not the standard deuterium fuel. She moved onto the other components of the Equinox's engine, pausing again as she examined the dilithium matrix. Here too extensive modifications had been completed, the why of them though continued to elude her.

She glanced up to see Chakotay looking expectantly at her, but only shook her head slightly at him. 'They've modified their engines, and I don't have any idea why they would have modified them in the way they have. It doesn't make any sense." She hesitated thinking, then continued. "I'd like Seven to look at these as well when she has time. I can't find any information where the Borg have come across any similar configuration, but she may find something I've missed. I'm still not as adept as I'd like to be in accessing that information." B'Elanna admitted.

Chakotay looked uncomfortable at the reminder of the internal changes that matched her external ones, then nodded. "Or a living engineer," he said glancing at the dead man slumped over an engineering console."

B'Elanna glanced over at the body and recalled Tom's statement that she had noted even through her absorption with the strange modifications. Total cellular desiccation caused by a thermolytic reaction. She frowned at the body, wondering what could have done that to him. Returning her attention to Chakotay she agreed, "Or a living engineer."

Or a living engineer and Seven, she thought to herself. 'Seven, when you have a moment could you review the information I'm sending you?' she asked over their interlink just incase Chakotay didn't think it was necessary to ask Seven.

'Yes B'Elanna, as soon as we have freed the Equinox crewman we located.' Seven replied and B'Elanna got a quick flash of information on what Seven and Harry had found so far.

Soberly B'Elanna sent back wordless reassurance, letting Seven know she was doing well, even though reassuring someone who was trapped was certainly not something she had ever been required to do before. 'No hurry, this isn't going anywhere anytime soon.' B'Elanna looked around at the devastation then walked over to an access panel, pulling it open she was pleased to see that this part of the ship hadn't been modified beyond recognition.

Forty-five minutes and 35.6 seconds later Seven contacted her, 'The crewman required some repairs to his limbs, compression and poor circulation caused the loss of sensation he experienced but he will fully recover. You are more adept at searching for information in your cortical node than you believe, you were correct the Borg have assimilated no technology that resembles the modifications you found.'

B'Elanna paused for a moment in her repairs to grin slightly at the characteristically succinct answer. Then she frowned, 'Damn' she sent back, 'I was actually hoping I had missed something because I can't see why you would modify them that way. What odd type of fuel have they been using?' she asked frustrated.

An uncertain reply came back 'I am sorry B'Elanna I do not know.'

'Oh, Seven I'm not upset with you.' B'Elanna hastened to reassure her. She reached out mentally and tried to show Seven what she was feeling and why.

After a few moments she received what felt amazing like a mental embrace then, 'I understand, I still wish I had been able to supply you with an answer.'

'I guess I'll just have to ask one of their engineers then.' Then with both a mental and verbal satisfied "Ah" she completed the last bypass and the engineering lighting flickered for a moment then stayed steady. 'This place is a disaster,' she informed Seven glancing about at the destruction now so harshly illuminated. She felt Seven focus on the mental images she was getting from her. It was something she was still getting used to allowing, but every time they attempted it Seven told her the images she was receiving from her got clearer and more accurate.

After a few moments thought Seven replied, 'I concur. Given the low number of surviving crew perhaps the Captain will decide to invite them to stay on Voyager and destroy the Equinox.'

'Hmm,' B'Elanna agreed absently, 'I'm going to head to sickbay, see if I can find someone who can explain these modifications.'

'I will be in Astrometrics scanning for any signs of damage to our shields,' Seven reminded her of their earlier hypothesis.

'Good idea. One of them probably knows or at least has an idea about what was attacking them, I'll ask if I get a chance. Or maybe Kathryn or Chakotay know already, I should probably ask them first.' B'Elanna thought, her mind awhirl with all the missing bits of information she would like to have the answers to.

The mental connected faded as Seven's focus shifted away from her and onto planning the types of scans that would be needed to pick up any disturbances to Voyagers shields. The contact never entirely went away, there was always the presence of Seven in B'Elanna's mind, ordered and cool and yet warm and loving at the same time. The dichotomy hadn't exactly surprised her when the interlink had first developed but it had taken some getting used to the feeling of another person that felt like they were off in a corner of her mind. Now of course, she couldn't imagine the loss she would feel if something disrupted their interlink, and she knew she never wanted to find out.

When B'Elanna stepped into sickbay it became immediately evident that she would not be talking with anyone from the Equinox, at least not immediately. The Doctor was in the surgical area attending to someone and the remainders of most of the sickbay bio beds were occupied by unconscious forms.

One face caught her attention and she stepped closer then gasped in surprise. She knew him, Max Burke, from the Academy. They had dated for a short time then broken up but remained friends until she quit, she hadn't heard any news of him since.

"You know him?" the quiet voice of Tom Paris asked from behind her.

B'Elanna turned and gave him a cordial smile, "Yes, we were friends at the Academy. He was talking about dropping out, but it looks like he stayed."

Ever since Tom had approached her a week ago and earnestly apologized for his behavior she had found it easier to treat him as the friend he had been before they began their relationship. He hadn't come right out and thanked her for breaking up with him, but he had certainly meant it when he said that he wished she and Seven every happiness. Given the betting running about how soon he and Brooks would become engaged, B'Elanna didn't know whether to feel insulted or just amused at him.

As she had said to Seven that night, "He might as well have come out and said, Thanks for breaking up with me so that Susan Brooks and I started going out together, and by the way I'm so happy now that I hope everything works out between you and Seven."

"You are not jealous of Ensign Brooks." Seven stated in a puzzled tone, trying to figure out what she was feeling from her wife. "You feel insulted?" she queried.

"Well, yes. I know it doesn't make sense, but yes it's insulting for a guy to thank you for breaking up with him because he's now found someone he likes a lot better than you." B'Elanna replied grumpily.

'But you found me,' Seven switched from verbal to mental communication, her mental voice colored with overtones of amusement.

'Well…I said it didn't make sense.' B'Elanna replied.

Seven sent her a mental image of Tom and Susan Brooks exiting the Holodeck dressed in what B'Elanna recognized were Tom's idea of 1950's mechanics clothing and discussing some archaic vehicle that they were rebuilding. 'They seem to be suited to one another and share the same interests. Much as we do.'

"I know, I know. I should be happy for them and I am, Tom always wanted me to rebuild one of those old vehicles with him, but I just couldn't see working on some holodeck image when there were real repairs that Voyager needed." B'Elanna said aloud.

Seven nodded, then stepped closer to B'Elanna and drew her into her arms. "I am pleased that Lt. Paris has found Ensign Brooks and the crew recognized they are better suited than you and he. They no longer discuss how I was the cause of the 'break up' between you and Lt. Paris."

B'Elanna growled in response to that statement, she had been tempted to go and correct some people's opinions until Seven had calmly reminded her that she believed such actions would be frowned upon by Kathryn. Then she smiled wolfishly, Seven was right, Tom's evident happiness had certainly quashed those rumors and as a bonus made the ones spreading the tale of the supposedly heartbroken man look rather stupid as well.

"Small galaxy sometimes," Tom commented, pulling B'Elanna's attention back to the present.

B'Elanna nodded, "Any idea when I would be able to ask him a few questions?"

Tom looked at her curiously, "In a few hours, the Doctor sedated them, their all suffering from sleep deprivation."

"I just need to ask him some questions about the modifications they've made to their engines," B'Elanna answered the unspoken question.

"I'll let you know when he wakes up." Tom offered.

He really was trying to be her friend again, B'Elanna thought. "Thanks, Tom. I'd appreciate that."

"Sure," he smiled his characteristic boyish smile at her. At one time it had melted her heart, now she just nodded to him and hoped that for his sake it never lost its charm for Susan Brooks.

18 hours later….

"We are here to commemorate our honored dead: Lieutenant William Yates, Lieutenant John Bowler, Ensign Dorothy Chang, Ensign Edward Regis, Ensign Kenny, and Crewman David Amantes, they all served with distinction, and their bravery and sacrifice will not be forgotten." Captain Ransom paused, then turned toward Janeway. "But now there is cause for hope. Captain Janeway, Voyager, on behalf of my crew. Thank you."

Janeway smiled compassionately back at him in return, "We'll have time to give the newest members of our family a proper welcome in the days ahead. But right now, we've got our hands full. The Equinox is secure, but its primary systems are still badly damaged. Harry, B'Elanna, make it your priority."

She waited until the two of them nodded acknowledgement then continued, "Captain Ransom has provided us with data regarding the alien attacks. Tuvok, Seven, you'll be working with first officer Maxwell Burke."

Burke held up his hand upon hearing his name and waved an acknowledgement.

"To kindred spirits, may our journey home together be swift. Dismissed," Janeway finished.

B'Elanna and Seven headed over toward Burke once everyone started moving. B'Elanna was amused by the double take Burke did upon seeing her exoskeleton. "Maxwell Burke, meet my wife Seven Torres-Hansen. Seven, you remember me telling you about Max, we were at the Academy together."

"Yes," Seven nodded politely to Burke. "I am pleased that we could assist you and your crew Commander."

Burke recovered himself and smiled back, "Thank you, I hear you're the one who picked up or distress call."

Seven nodded pleased at the recognition, "Yes the Astrometrics lab possesses sensors much more advanced than those used in Federation ships. I would not have been able to detect your signal without them."

"And it's mostly her own design so she's very proud of it." B'Elanna teased her wife.

"Ensign Kim was also involved in the design and construction," Seven corrected her and gave her a slightly rebuking look for teasing her.

B'Elanna wrapped an arm about Seven's waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. Turning back toward Burke she said, "Well, Max I see you've been busy, last I heard you were going to quit the Academy. But here you are a First Officer," she pointed toward his collar with a grin.

"I heard you beat me to it and joined the Marquis," he quipped back.

"For awhile, until Voyager chased us into the Badlands and, as with your ship, the Caretaker array brought us here." B'Elanna acknowledged. "I was offered the position of Chief Engineer the first year we were here."

"Congratulations by the way, you always were good at engineering." Burke replied.

"Speaking of engineering," B'Elanna took the opening that had just come up, "I've racked my brains but I can't understand the engine modifications on the Equinox."

Instinct kept B'Elanna from reacting to the sudden physiological changes she detected from Burke at her question. A quick urgent 'Don't visibly react,' to Seven resulted in her wife stiffening for a moment then carefully relaxing though B'Elanna could sense her go on alert.

"Ah, that. Some modifications we were trying out. They didn't work that's why you can't figure them out. I never was as good an engineer as you were BLT." Burke shrugged looking embarrassed.

B'Elanna smiled, "I had almost forgotten about that nickname. Ah, well I've had some ideas that didn't end up working as well." She paused, "Thanks for being honest with me Max, it's been driving me nuts, now I can forget about it and go onto more important things like repairing the Equinox." To her enhanced senses it was obvious when he relaxed once again.

"I believe Commander Tuvok would like to speak with us," Seven stepped away from B'Elanna and indicated the awaiting Vulcan.

"I guess we'd better not keeping him waiting. Maybe we can all get together later? Perhaps for dinner?" asked Burke.

B'Elanna glanced at Seven for a moment then nodded, "That would be nice, I'll see you later Seven."

As Seven and Burke moved toward Tuvok, Seven mentally said, 'He was lying.'

'Yes, I know. I certainly know what things look like when their in the process of being worked upon. Their engine room might have been heavily damaged but not damaged enough for me to accept that, not along with his reaction to the question.' B'Elanna answered keeping her face calm.

'He does not want us to understand what modifications were made,' Seven stated.

'What or why. I've got to speak to Janeway about this, something's wrong here.' B'Elanna replied nonchalantly edging toward the door were the Captain had exited minutes earlier.

Seven replied 'Now? I shall attempt to distract the Commander from briefing him on our defenses while you are doing so.'

B'Elanna felt a moment of alarm as she wondered what Seven was planning and how well her ex-Borg wife would do at dissembling.

'The scans I have been running showed the signs of a possible attack during the last scanning period. I initiated another set of scans before the memorial service, they should be complete now.' Seven replied with only a slight over tone of rebuke for B'Elanna's doubting her.

'Well, lying is not something your very good at B'enal.' B'Elanna defended herself.

Amusement was Seven's only reply for a moment, 'Tuvok agrees that we should look at the data from the last scans first.'

'I'll inform the Captain of our suspicions, not that we have much information to give her but after the last time we withheld information…' B'Elanna commented ruefully and felt an answering surge of emphatic agreement from Seven.

B'Elanna exited the mess hall and headed for the Bridge, certain that she would find Janeway in her Ready Room.

Getting off the Turbolift she walked through the doors to the Bridge and took a casual look around verifying that none of the Equinox crew was around. She was aware that Seven, Tuvok and Burke had just entered Astrometics and Seven was pulling up the latest information.

She crossed the bridge area, nodding to Chakotay who was looking at her curiously and rang the chime to the Ready Room. Upon hearing Janeway's "enter" she walked in and looked around ignoring Kathryn's puzzled look.

"Is something wrong B'Elanna?" Janeway asked.

Instead of immediately answering B'Elanna verified, "We are alone?"

Janeway's glance immediately sharpened and she straightened, "Yes, what is it?"

B'Elanna returned the Captain's stare solemnly, "Captain, I believe the Equinox crew isn't being entirely truthful with us."


	8. I am Borg, Part 3, Chapter 8

**I am Borg - Part 3 - Chapter 8**

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trademarks is intended.

Rating: PG

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 02/08/05

Summary: AU Equinox encounter continues.

* * *

The Captain froze for a moment then cocked her head to the side slightly and regarded her Chief Engineer steadily for a second from her chair. Then placing her hands deliberately on her desk, she rose to her feet, stood, and refocused her attention on the woman standing in front of her.

In a low, deliberately calm voice she asked, "What causes you to think that Lieutenant?"

B'Elanna replied with a question "You read my report on their engine modifications?"

Janeway nodded silently, came around the desk and leaned back against it, standing closer to B'Elanna, while she continued speaking.

"I asked Commander Burke about the Equinox's engine modifications. The question sent his physiological readings the roof, heart rate, eye dilation, pore size and skin flush levels all increased suddenly. All consistent with high levels of stress, but he didn't look stressed, and he told me that it was an experiment they had tried that didn't work." B'Elanna paused.

"But you don't believe that," Janeway said, and it was more of a statement than a question.

"No Captain, I don't. One, I know what things look like when their in the middle of being worked upon. Granted their engine room isn't in the best shape but nothing was taken apart, nothing showed any signs that they had been working on it at all. If I could figure out what they were using for fuel I bet I could get that engine working." B'Elanna paused again then asked Janeway, "And two, who tries unproven engine modifications in the middle of an attack? His explanation doesn't make any sense."

Janeway nodded looking thoughtful, "Maybe he just didn't want to admit they had made such a poor judgment?" she asked.

B'Elanna hesitated, she didn't want to accept that answer, but she couldn't argue that it might be true. "Maybe, but…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

"Was Seven present as well?" asked Janeway.

"Yes Captain." B'Elanna replied.

"Did she agree with your interpretation of his reaction?" Janeway asked beginning to slowly pace.

"She concurred," B'Elanna assured Janeway and then groaned as she caught the small smile on the Captain's face at her use of Seven's mode of speaking.

Janeway's lips twitched, then she grew somber again. Looking at directly into B'Elanna's eyes she said, "People can react intensely to a question for reason's other than their lying, so it's not quite enough for me to accuse them of hiding something. But your suspicions are certainly enough to make me cautious. I'll inform Chakotay and Tuvok to look for any discrepancies in the information they are giving us."

"And the ship's systems?" asked B'Elanna.

"That will be harder, but I think we can do a few things to make sure they don't abuse their welcome." said Janeway with a reassuring look.

B'Elanna stilled as Seven contacted her with information from the most recent shield scans. "Damn." she breathed out.

Janeway stopped her slow pacing and gave her a sharp frown.

Before Janeway could rebuke her for her language B'Elanna said "The aliens have begun attacking our shields."

Janeway's communicator activated, "Seven to Captain Janeway,"

Janeway stared at B'Elanna for a second then replied in an even tone. She listened as Seven informed her of the situation with the shields, never letting on that she already knew. "I'll be right there, Seven."

The Captain cut off the communicator channel and was silent for a moment. When she started speaking again her voice was quick and decisive "You're supposed to be over on Equinox, go ahead and transport over. Be discrete, but look for anything which might tell you why they modified their engines." Janeway commanded, then before B'Elanna could turn and leave, she suggested with a level look, "Maybe you should start by seeing if the computer core is recoverable."

B'Elanna grinned fiercely back at her, "I'll do that Captain."

Seven finished informing the Captain of her findings careful to not reveal that she was aware the Captain already knew due to B'Elanna's presence. Commander Tuvok was aware of the interlink, but Commander Burke was also present in Astrometrics, so maintaining the deception was necessary. Seven completed her preparations and initiated continuous thermographic scans of Voyager's shields while simultaneously listening to the conversation between B'Elanna and Kathryn.

'Be careful,' she instructed B'Elanna as she transported over to the Equinox.

'There's more Voyager crew over here than Equinox, I'll be fine. And if they did object to me poking around for answers in their computer core we would pretty much confirm that they had something to hide.' commented B'Elanna.

'True,' acknowledged Seven. The slight noise of opening doors caught her attention and she glanced toward them. She was momentarily surprised to see Captain Ransom enter with Captain Janeway, but controlled her reaction and hid it quickly. Seven was not sure what the Captain was planning, but she knew that Kathryn was more than capable of investigating their suspicions while appearing to trust the Equinox officers completely.

During their regular morning briefing they had gone over the information Captain Ransom and Commander Burke had provided them on the aliens. I had not been as much as Seven had hoped, but it had included bio-scans of the aliens.

The bio-scans indicated that the aliens could not live for long outside of their own space. They had also given Seven the information she needed to modify the shield scans she had been conducting to include thermographic data. What the information from the Equinox had not answered was the one question they had been most interested in, why the aliens had been attacking the Equinox in the first place.

Nodding to the two Captains Seven began briefing them on her findings. In the ensuing discussion Seven brought up the alien's inability to remain in their space thinking that if they could find some way to hold them for a few seconds that they might be discouraged from attacking them.

As soon as she mentioned the possibility she noticed definite physiological changes in the two Equinox officers. A look passed between Captain Ransom and Commander Burke and Seven wondered if the tightness of Ransom's jaw indicated he was angry, as it did with Janeway.

Burke turned away from his Captain, and Seven noted he appeared to be even more tense than before, though anyone without enhanced senses would be hard pressed to noted the minute changes. "You use a net." he offered.

Seven looked at him curiously waiting for him to continue.

He hesitated for a slight second, and his eyes flickered over toward his Captain, but he did not look directly at Captain Ransom, who was standing over to the side staring steadily at him. "A multiphasic force field to be exact, we wanted to see what we were up against so we built a small chamber that could keep one of them trapped for several minutes." Oddly enough the man relaxed after saying it, as if speaking it had relieved whatever internal stress he had been under.

"If we build on that we might be able to create a lattice work of multiphasic fields around each ship." said Janeway, her voice revealing her excitement.

Burke glanced at his Captain and Seven's senses sharpened as she detected renewed signs of stress just before he asked the man inquiringly, "Rudy?"

Seven was surprised, Captain Janeway only permitted a few people to call her by her first name, and that was permitted only in private settings.

"That's up to Captain Janeway," the man replied.

Seven looked back at her Captain, who was watching the proceedings with a calm face. "We need to look at that chamber."

Burke opened his mouth as if to speak but a sudden movement by Captain Ransom drew everyone's attention. Looking directly into his First Officer's eyes he said, "That won't be possible," his eyes flicked back to Captain Janeway, "It's in the research lab and that area of the ship was flooded by thermionic radiation during the last attack. It will be days before anyone can go in there."

Indeed, thought Seven quietly to herself, noting the man's steadily increasing tension level. 'B'Elanna, Captain Ransom states that their research lab was flooded with thermionic radiation approximately 45 hours ago. Can you verify this?' Left unspoken but understood between them was the question of whether or not B'Elanna could do this without raising any suspicions.

There was a long moment of silence then B'Elanna replied, 'Wouldn't it be easier to do it from Voyager?'

'Not while Captain Ransom and Commander Burke are present,' replied Seven with a touch of humor.

'I'll see what I can do. But you may just have to wait until they are gone. It would be pretty obvious if I left what I was doing to go take readings outside the research lab right now.' B'Elanna answered.

Seven sent back her acknowledgement, not bothering with putting it into discrete words, and knowing that B'Elanna would understand.

His eyes flitting back and forth between the two Captains, Burke looked uneasy but offered, "The design schematics should be in our auxiliary database."

Burke and Ransom exchanged a quick look, then Ransom looked at Janeway, "We can go over now and see if its there, if you would like to accompany me."

Janeway gave Ransom a brilliant smile, "That would be wonderful," and nodded toward him. Just before they cleared the doorway Janeway turned back and said to Tuvok, "As soon as I get back I'll go over last weeks security review." She gave him one of her lopsided smiles, "I've got some concerns about your proposed suggestions, so please don't implement any of your defense improvements before we have a chance to discuss them."

Tuvok stood absolutely still for a moment, "I would not Captain." He replied carefully.

Janeway stopped smiling, stepped back into the lab and touched his arm lightly, ignoring the fact that the Equinox officers were watching her curiously. "I'm sorry Tuvok, I know you wouldn't. I was just teasing you. You're always very thorough in your suggestions, and I think some of those went all the way back to Devore space."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at the Captain then inclined his head. "I took no offense Captain."

Janeway stared at him for a moment intently, then nodded and turned to follow Captain Ransom out.

Seven suppressed a sigh of relief, estimating a 95 probability that Janeway had just successfully informed Tuvok that she suspected the Equinox officers were attempting to deceive them, and that he was not to reveal any details of Voyager's defenses.

The Devore comment would be a clear reference to Janeway's deception of Inspector Kashyk, the Devore inspector who had attempted to trick Captain Janeway into telling him the location of a wormhole that telepathic refugees were using to escape detention by his government. Instead, he had found himself to be one deceived by Captain Janeway, and the refugees sheltering on Voyager had gotten away safely.

Seven found herself admiring the Captain's quick thinking and Tuvok's calm reaction to her statement. Though Tuvok did turn in daily security reports, Seven doubted there was a weekly security report, or if there was it probably didn't contain any defensive suggestions. Recalling Janeway's skilled deception of Inspector Kashyk, Seven almost felt sorry for the Equinox officers…almost.

Seven's attention was drawn away from her thoughts by Tuvok speaking, "I must attend to some security matters, I will return as soon as I am able."

Seven nodded silently in reply and as he left the room she returned to monitoring the progress of the latest set of shield scans. Commander Burke remained in the room and from what she could tell he was examining the Astrometrics lab with great interest.

'Their right this place is flooded with thermionic radiation, I'm reading 97.898 Sieverts of radiation, and I've got to move I can hear someone headed this way.' B'Elanna's mental voice intruded then faded quickly.

Seven noted the information and sent back wordless thanks. Returning her attention to her console she began analyzing the information from the latest set of scans, ignoring for the moment the presence of Commander Burke, and wondering how long it would be before Captain Janeway and Captain Ransom recovered the information on the multiphasic chamber Equinox had developed.

Seven was not particularly patient by nature, and the combination of possibly getting access to information that would allow her to protect Voyager, while having to wait for said information left her feeling rather irritable.

'Quit pacing,' B'Elanna's mental voice almost caused her to physically jump in surprise.

Seven was confused, 'I am not pacing, I am analyzing the current shield scans.'

'You feel like your pacing, it's very distracting.' replied B'Elanna, and Seven could clearly sense overtones of amusement in the communication.

'I am sorry,' Seven hesitated then admitted. 'I am awaiting information from Kathryn.' Seven proceeded to relate to her wife all that had happened since she had informed the Captain of the alien's attacks on Voyagers shields.

'Damn, she's good,' B'Elanna's admiration was clear as she responded to Seven's relating of the conversation between the Captain and Tuvok. 'Now I understand why you wanted me to verify that the research lab was actually flooded with radiation. Captain Ransom certainly didn't seem to like Max telling us about that multiphasic chamber did he.'

'That was my conclusion as well,' agreed Seven. The unmistakable feeling of being stared at drew Seven's attention and she glanced over at Commander Burke. He was staring at her curiously, and upon noticing that she had noticed, he flushed slightly.

"I'm sorry I was just curious about…" he paused obviously searching for what term to use.

"My exoskeleton," Seven replied calmly.

Burke blinked once, and Seven got the impression he was surprised by the term.

"Oh," He paused again. "I thought it was…" he looked uncomfortable.

Seven raised a metal encircled brow inquisitively.

"A tattoo, actually." he seemed to regain his confidence. "It's very beautiful by the way."

"Thank you," Seven replied politely and turned back to her work then waited patiently wondering how long it would take him to ask her for more information. After a few seconds of continued silence Seven noticed him start to shift uneasily as he stared at her. After 46.79 seconds of silence Burke finally spoke, but it was not to ask her any more questions about her appearance.

"How long will it be before the latest scans are complete?" he inquired.

Seven hesitated for a moment, computing the amount of time until the scans completed and the time she would need to complete her analysis. "One hour thirty-seven minutes Commander."

He rubbed his hands together and Seven noticed he looked rather pleased, "I think I'll go visit your mess hall in that case. We've been on emergency rations for the past few months and the thought of eating actual food…"

Seven considered warning the Commander for a fraction of a second. Neelix's culinary creations had certainly become more palatable with her assistance, but that simply meant the majority of the meals served were now edible. It only took a moment for Seven to decide that she would not speak unfavorably about Neelix with this man, especially as she suspected he was deceiving them. "Enjoy your meal Commander," she said politely with a nod in his direction. He nodded in return and exited the lab.

Seven waited two minutes and then verified that he was on his way to the mess hall. She wanted to scan the Equinox research lab, but she knew that it would slow the current scan of Voyager's shields. Uncertain whether or not to do so, she turned to her wife for guidance, 'B'Elanna I am alone now and can scan the Equinox's research lab, but doing so will delay the current shield scan by 15.34 minutes. I am uncertain whether I should proceed or ask the Captain.'

Seven could feel her wife weighing the possible outcomes of each decision exactly as she had done earlier, and wondered whether or not she would come to the same conclusion.

B'Elanna replied after a few moments 'The Captain needs to make that decision.'

Seven sighed in relief; ever since they had begun their abridged version of command school she had gained valuable insights into the duties and responsibilities of Captain Janeway. It had made her much more sympathetic and understanding as to why many decisions needed to be made by the petite Captain.

During one of their discussions, Janeway had stated it quite bluntly one night, "If I'm going to be court-marshaled for a poor decision, I would like to at least have been the one who made it."

'We are in agreement then,' Seven responded to B'Elanna and in reply received a quick

flash of amusement and affection from the half-Klingon.

'Speak of the devil,' B'Elanna's mental voice was low and Seven had the impression she was distracted. 'She's right here, I'll see if I can't get her away from Captain Ransom long enough to ask, or at least let her know she needs to contact you.'

Seven was momentarily occupied with deciphering the meaning of the colloquialism B'Elanna had used. She was fairly certain that B'Elanna was not inferring that Kathryn was either evil, or a supernatural being. From her wife's usage of the phrase it seemed to refer to the fact that Captain Janeway had appeared shortly after they had been speaking about talking to her. Satisfied that she had correctly deciphered the meaning of the colloquialism Seven noted the phrase and usage in the linguistics portion of her cortical node database and awaited further communications.

While she waited, Seven continued analyzing the data from the thermographic scan currently in progress. Seven was pleased to see that the information indicated that the alien's attacks had not increased in intensity and that Voyager's shield's were not degrading any faster than the first scan had indicated.

'She says to go ahead.' B'Elanna's message interrupted into Seven's concentration.

Seven responded 'Understood,' and promptly diverted some of Astrometrics resources from scanning Voyager's shields. One minute and 15.8 seconds later Seven began receiving information from her scans of the Equinox. Puzzled she inquired of B'Elanna, 'You were standing by the research laboratory door when you scanned for thermionic radiation?'

'Yes, why?' B'Elanna responded with prompt inquisitiveness.

Seven glanced over the data again verifying it, 'Because I now read 98.187 Sievens. I will attempt to ascertain why the radiation is increasing instead of decreasing as would be expected from the information Captain Ransom gave.'

B'Elanna did not reply, but Seven sensed a sharp curiosity from her as she waited for Seven to gather more information.

Seven narrowed the focus of her scans, attempting to ascertain the reason for the increased radiation. Analyzing the incoming information Seven felt a cold sensation settle in her middle, and noted absently that she was having an adrenal response to what she had just found. 'Three EPS conduits have been rerouted to Equinox's research laboratory; I believe they are the reason for the increasing thermionic radiation.'

There was absolute silence from B'Elanna for a full second, then a rush of anger, 'I can't believe it, we run into another Federation ship and they turn out to be honorless p'taqs. Kathless, but Kathryn isn't going to like hearing this.'

Seven could only agree with the last statement, 'No, she isn't,' being well aware of Kathryn's dislike of being lied to. Hearing the doors open behind her Seven identified the person entering the lab before she completed her movement to clear the information from the Equinox scan. Seven glanced over at the Captain verifying that she was alone.

'The Captain is here, I will show her the information now.' Seven informed B'Elanna.

Before Seven could speak Janeway held up a PADD she was carrying, "The information on the multiphasic chamber." she announced.

Seven stepped back from the console slightly, and accepted the PADD from Janeway. She didn't look it immediately, instead she said in a low voice, "Three EPS conduits on the Equinox have been rerouted to their research laboratory, I believe they are the source of the thermionic radiation." Seven indicated the console displaying the information and Janeway promptly stepped over to scan over the data herself.

After a few seconds she looked back up, but not to look at Seven, instead she stared blankly at a readout on the wall, her face tight and Seven heard a small minute sound she would swear were the Captain's teeth grinding together. No, the Captain did not like hearing this news at all, but then they had known she wouldn't.

Janeway turned abruptly toward Seven, "Make the shield modifications your top priority. I'll get B'Elanna back over here to work on it as well, we need those modifications as soon as possible." The Captain's voice was sharp and abrupt, betraying her anger. "Encrypt all of the information from your scans of the Equinox and send it my Ready Room."

Seven had straightened almost instinctually, at the tone of Janeway's voice and clasped her hands behind her back, "Yes, Captain," Seven replied.

The Captain turned and headed for the doors.

"I am sorry," Seven said in a low uncertain voice to her retreating back, feeling troubled about being the source of the information that had made Kathryn so angry.

The petite red haired woman stopped abruptly and turned to look over her shoulder with a puzzled expression. Then noting the Borg like stance, which had become so unusual for Seven after what had happened on Mulara, and realizing what Seven was apologizing for, she turned around and walked back to the ex-Borg. Her face softened and she placed a comforting hand on the taller woman's arm. "You have nothing to be sorry about. You and B'Elanna were absolutely right to bring your suspicions to me. I'm not angry with you, I'm angry at them for lying and hiding something from us." She squeezed Seven's arm under her hand gently and waited.

Seven's face cleared and she nodded her understanding, realizing in dismay how she was standing, Seven flushed slightly and dropped her hands to her sides.

Kathryn decided to just ignore the obvious change in Seven's stance, not wishing her to feel any more uncomfortable than the blond woman already was. "I need to brief Tuvok and Chakotay," she said, still gripping Seven's arm lightly.

"I'll transfer the information now, Captain." Seven assured her, feeling more confident now that she understood the source of Kathryn's upset.

Kathryn nodded, gripped the arm she still held reassuringly one last time then released it and turned briskly. Seven saw her command mask settle over her face and watched as Captain Kathryn Janeway exited the lab.

As she encrypted the data from the Equinox and forwarded it to Janeway's terminal in her Ready Room, Seven contacted B'Elanna and informed her about everything that had occurred in the past few minutes.

'I'll put Vorik in charge over here and come right over,' B'Elanna replied and Seven caught overtones of intense curiosity from her lover.

Seven smiled to herself in the empty lab, knowing that B'Elanna was anticipating the challenge of modifying the chamber design from Equinox as much as she was. Even though it was a necessity that they complete this task quickly, both of them looked forward to the mental stimulation of solving a complex problem together.

Once B'Elanna had informed Vorik that he was now in charge of the Equinox repair effort she continued, 'I don't think we are going to be able to get any information from their computer core. It's just too damaged. Right now it can't do much more than run basic ships functions.' Seven noted the frustration in her wife's mental voice with concern. 'It would have been so much easier if I could have found out what they were hiding from it.' B'Elanna finished, her disappointment strong through the interlink.

Seven could not think of anything to say that would make her B'enal not feel disappointed. It frustrated her, as she understood completely why the half-Klingon was upset, since she reacted in the same manner when circumstances caused her to not be able to fulfill the Captain's wishes. Finally, she did the only thing she could, send her feelings of support through their interlink, and let her wife know that she understood.

While she was waiting for B'Elanna to arrive, Seven started loading the information obtained from the Equinox into Voyagers computers. Choosing one of the side consoles she displayed the information obtained on it, and then went over to view it. Just as she was beginning to examine the energy field data, B'Elanna entered the Astrometrics lab with Commander Burke.

"The latest shield scan should be done," Burke was saying as he entered Astrometrics.

As B'Elanna stepped around the main console to join Seven he stepped up to the main console and examined the readouts. Burke switched his gaze from the console to Seven and said in a puzzled tone, "I thought you said the scans would be completed by now?"

Seven felt a flutter in her stomach and recognized it as fear, as she wondered how to explain why the scans were just finishing instead of being completed. Taking a breath to calm herself, Seven searched her memory for past events that had caused similar delays. "A power diversion has delayed the completion of the current scan, it should be finished in two minutes." she stated and was pleased to hear her voice remain steady and calm.

'Good save,' B'Elanna's mental voice was warm and reassuring, and felt remarkably like a brief hug.

"Oh." Burke replied briefly. Something passed over his face, and Seven thought he was looking at her a little more coldly, and perhaps suspiciously, but she was not certain.

"Yea, sometimes someone thinks that just because she has an in to the Chief Engineer that Astrometrics can have all the extra power available." B'Elanna interrupted in a teasing tone, smiling at Seven, and drawing Burke's attention away from her.

'I know you don't, but go with it. He looked suspicious.' B'Elanna instructed silently, as she made the statement aloud. Along with the unspoken words was a mental image of what B'Elanna wanted Seven to do in reaction to what she had just said.

Following the instructions, Seven raised an eyebrow at her wife, expelled her breath in a low huff, and turned back to the data on the multiphasic chamber, acting as if she were now ignoring the half-Klingon.

A short bark of laughter from behind her let her know that she had succeeded in eliciting the reaction from Commander Burke that B'Elanna had desired.

"Nice energy matrix, who developed it?" B'Elanna turned and looked inquiringly at Max, keeping her tone and gaze light, as she checked to make sure he no longer looked suspicious.

Burke hesitated a moment, "Gillmore and I did."

"Not a bad job, Max. Maybe you're a better engineer than you thought." B'Elanna grinned at Equinox's First Officer teasingly.

Burke snorted and placed his hands on his hips as he regarded the half-Klingon, "Not good enough. I thought about creating a lattice work of multiphasic force fields to cover Equinox, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work."

B'Elanna nodded and turned back to the console to examine the data from the Equinox. She tapped one fingernail against the metal edge of the console as she examined the information trying to figure out what about it seemed familiar.

"Species 259," Seven stated, and suddenly B'Elanna made the connection that had been eluding her. Species 259 was an omnicordial life form that inhabited Galactic Cluster 3. The Borg had obtained the pattern duplication design used in their autonomous regeneration sequencers from them. They had also obtained quite a lot of other technology, one of which was an unusual shield matrix whose individual units bore a close resemblance to the one she was currently looking at.

"I believe it will be easier to modify Voyagers security grid generators to emit multiphasic frequencies than to undertake modifications to the shield generators." Seven stated looking over at B'Elanna who was standing almost shoulder to shoulder with her.

B'Elanna considered this for a moment then nodded her head abruptly once. Frowning slightly, she considered the problem before them, and silently cursed Max's presence behind them. She really, really wanted to work on this problem with Seven through their interlink. There, thoughts and images flowed rapidly back and forth between them in a dance of intellect that B'Elanna found almost as stimulating as their lovemaking.

Seven catching the overtones of her lover's mood, if not the actual thoughts, glared at the reflection of the person standing behind them, wishing that the First Officer of the Equinox would leave her alone with her B'enal.

"Species 259? I've never heard of them." came the voice of Max Burke from behind them.

Seven stated coolly, "Their Borg designation. Their designation for themselves is impossible for a humanoid to produce, as they do not communicate by utilizing sound, but by transferring complex chemical structures between communicants. They are an omnicordial life form inhabiting Galactic Cluster 3."

"How do you know that?" asked Burke, surprise obvious in his tone.

Surprised, B'Elanna turned around and looked at him realizing belatedly that the Captain hadn't already explained to the Equinox crew that Seven had been severed from the Collective. Glancing at her wife she thought she understood, it wasn't as if Seven wasn't distinctive now, but with her new exoskeleton she was no longer recognizable as having been Borg. B'Elanna thought that Janeway had probably decided to leave it up to Seven whether or not strangers needed to know her past.

Seven turned smartly and in a voice rather devoid of emotion informed the Commander, "My parents were studying the Borg. They and I were assimilated in 2355; Captain Janeway separated me from the Collective on stardate 51004. On stardate 52668 I was killed on the planet Mulara. Two days later I was revived by an energy being revered by the Mularan's as their goddess Mulara with my exoskeleton and implants as they are now."

'Succinct, brutally succinct. I like it.' B'Elanna informed Seven, trying not to laugh out loud at the shocked look on Max's face. As the shock faded B'Elanna could tell that he was trying to figure out what question he wanted to ask first about the information Seven had just unloaded upon him.

Curious as to what he would ask B'Elanna waited while Seven turned back to the data and began working again.

Burke's attention focused upon B'Elanna, "And yours?"

"Also a gift from Mulara, she believes in equality in a relationship so she gave me the same abilities and knowledge Seven has." B'Elanna replied calmly. Suddenly a sound caught her attention and she stilled, feeling Seven do the same beside her as she noted the sound as well. "Shit, are the shield modifications failing?" she asked turning around and accessing Voyager's shield data from the console.

Seven who had already accessed the shield controls noted that Tuvok and Harry were also interfacing with the controls and were accessing the same information as she. "They are concentrating their attack on the lateral shields. Ensign Kim is already rerouting power back to those shields."

"The auxiliary emitters couldn't react fast enough," B'Elanna finished.

Both of them were currently ignoring the slightly wild eyed Equinox First Officer holding Astrometrics emergency phaser behind them.

"We have to figure out these modifications _now_," B'Elanna commented tersely, bringing back up the chamber specifications.

Seven stated simply "Agreed." and began working with her.

After a few moments they both identified the sounds of Burke reattaching the phaser in its holding brackets under the main console. "I think I'll see how the rest of my crew is doing after that." he stated from behind them, and his voice clearly revealed the stress he was feeling.

B'Elanna turned her head long enough to meet his eyes for a moment and nod an acknowledgement before turning back and focusing on the equations Seven was working on to modify the security energy grid to emit multiphasic frequencies. As soon as the doors shut behind the departing Equinox First Officer, B'Elanna said aloud, "Computer Seal Astrometrics doors, authorization Torres one omega five one." Then she murmured just loud enough for Seven to hear, "Now lets get this done."

Focusing on their interlink, B'Elanna accepted Seven's offer of full integration, for an instance it felt chaotic as she merged with Seven's consciousness. Then the chaos cleared as she focused on the calculations which Seven was concentrating upon. Unconsciously she wrapped one arm around Seven's waist and drew her physically close as well. Within nanoseconds she was comfortable in their merged consciousness and their integrated thoughts focused on their objective.

'_Wave pattern_…Yea, that looks good…Lets modify the security grid to emit multiphasic frequencies, I think this will work.' For over thirty minutes they traded ideas, discarded those that did not seem promising and focused on those that seemed likely to succeed.

The sound of the seal being overrode caught their attention for a moment, long enough for them to realize, '_Kathryn_… the Captain,' and continue their work as the other woman entered.

Janeway had been surprised when she the doors to Astrometrics had not opened when she approached them. Finding her Chief Engineer's seal on them had given her a moment of hesitation before she looked left and right to make sure the corridor was clear before she overrode it. When she entered the lab her first response had been to reprimand the two women standing in a loose embrace before one of the side consoles. Fortunately she caught sight of the rapidly changing screen before she uttered even one annoyed word.

Her breath caught in her throat as she realized what must be going on, Seven had described how it felt to fully open herself to their interlink, how wonderful it was for them to merge their thoughts and work through a problem together. Watching the two she realized that though they had one arm wrapped around the other, each one's free arm was busy entering data rapidly. Quickly she resealed the doors with her command codes and walked closer to the two figures.

Watching she found herself wondering how they managed to each enter in data without one messing up what the other was entering. Janeway focused on the view screen trying to figure out how far they had gotten with developing a defense against the aliens. After a few moments she realized they were currently working out how to modify the security grid generators to emit multiphasic frequencies.

Watching closely as the screen flickered and changed as the two rapidly entered information, Janeway tried to keep up with the modifications the two were working out. The screen changed and focused in upon one grid and Janeway looked with interest upon the equations detailing the frequency and energy emissions of the security grid. The rapid data entry ceased for a moment and Janeway tried to figure out what about the grid was giving them problems.

'Odd……There seems to be no exit from this field once the interspacial rift completes.' for a moment Seven contemplated B'Elanna's thoughts. '_You are correct_…' there was a pause. '_The alien they said they captured died then, as it could not return to it's own space_…Damn, question is did they mean to, and did they use this before or after the aliens started attacking them…_I do not know, but if we modify the wave form in this manner_…Yes, that works, it will give them a way to go back to their space.'

Slowly, carefully and with no little reluctance, the two separated their thoughts and settled back into their own individual minds, parting physically as well, though not moving very far apart from one another.

As soon as she reoriented herself B'Elanna said tersely, "Captain, we discovered something that may have something to do with why the aliens are attacking."

Seven pulled up the energy matrix of Equinox's multiphasic chamber while Janeway closed the short distance that remained between them.

When she came up beside them B'Elanna continued while pointing to the matrix, "There's no way out, once the alien appears in our space and is caught inside it can't return."

Seven continued, "Also, I can find no method of shutting down the energy field without collapsing it, which would have the side effect of killing whatever was held inside. We have modified the energy field equation Voyager will be using to allow them to exit back into their own space." Seven brought up the modified energy matrix on the next viewing screen.

Captain Janeway's face tightened, betraying the anger that was building inside, "Well now I understand why Ransom was not happy Burke told us about this." She directed a sharp look at Seven, "We will be able to bring our security grid down normally even with these modifications?"

"Yes, Captain. Bringing down one of the security grids will not harm any humanoid or alien contained inside the energy field." Seven reassured her.

Janeway stood silently for a few moments then from the sudden resolution on her face came to a decision. "I think it's time we got a few questions answered."


End file.
